Software Engineering Body of Knowledge

The Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) is a product of the Software Engineering Coordinating Committee. The IEEE Computer Society is also involved.

The software engineering body of knowledge is an all-inclusive term that describes the sum of knowledge within the profession of software engineering. Since it is usually not possible to put the full body of knowledge of even an emerging discipline, such as software engineering, into a single document, there is a need for a Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. This Guide will seek to identify and describe that subset of the body of knowledge that is generally accepted, even though software engineers must be knowledgeable not only in software engineering, but also, of course, in other related disciplines." [http://www.swebok.org/overview/]

Contents of the SWEBOK

As of the 2004 edition, the SWEBOK guide define ten knowledge areas (KAs) within the field of software engineering
* Software Requirements (Requirements analysis)
* Software design
* Software Construction (Computer programming)
* Software testing
* Software maintenance
* Software configuration management
* Software Engineering management
* Software Engineering Process (Software development process)
* Software Engineering Tools And Methods
* Software quality

The SWEBOK also defines disciplines related to software engineering
* Computer engineering
* Computer science
* Management
* Mathematics
* Quality management
* Software Ergonomics (Cognitive ergonomics)
* Systems engineering

Criticism and alternatives

Cem Kaner and Grady Booch have publicly stated that the document could be improved. Many claim that the document may not accurately reflect the community's view of software engineering, and recognize the effort to try to define the profession.

Notkin, Gorlick, and Shaw's report was also less than positive [http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/notkin/bok_assessment.pdf]

German scientists already support, that the SWEBOK regards sources which were published in English, and is therefore an accurate "anglophone" guide to the SWEBOK. Other versions, which include other authors, are available in French, Japanese or Arabic.

Other efforts to define a body of knowledge for software engineering is the "Computing Curriculum Software Engineering (CCSE)", meanwhile officially named Software Engineering 2004 (SE2004). The difference is that whereas SWEBOK defines the software engineering knowledge that practitioners should have after four years of practice, SE2004 defines the knowledge that an undergraduate software engineering student should possess upon graduation (including knowledge of mathematics, general engineering principles, and other related areas).

External links

* [http://www.swebok.org swebok.org] - official site.
* An Assessment of Software Engineering Body of Knowledge Efforts [http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/notkin/bok_assessment.pdf] - an ACM report critical of the SWEBOK

ee also

*PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge
*EABOK - Enterprise Architecture Body of Knowledge
* [http://www.cmcrossroads.com/cgi-bin/cmwiki/view/CM/CMBoK CMBOK ] - Configuration Management Body of Knowledge