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50 PART ONE THE PRODUCT AND THE PROCESS

2.8. Propose a specific software project that would be amenable to the incremental
model. Present a scenario for applying the model to the software.

2.9. As you move outward along the process flow path of the spiral model, what can
you say about the software that is being developed or maintained?
2.10. Many people believe that the only way in which order of magnitude improve-
ments in software quality and productivity will be achieved is through component-
based development. Find three or four recent papers on the subject and summarize
them for the class.

2.11. Describe the concurrent development model in your own words.
2.12. Provide three examples of fourth generation techniques.
2.13. Which is more important—the product or the process?

FURTHER READINGS AND INFORMATION SOURCES

The current state of the art in software engineering can best be determined from
monthly publications such as IEEE Software, Computer, and the IEEE Transactions on
Software Engineering. Industry periodicals such as Application Development Trends,
Cutter IT Journal and Software Development often contain articles on software engi-
neering topics. The discipline is ‘summarized’ every year in the Proceedings of the Inter-
national Conference on Software Engineering, sponsored by the IEEE and ACM and is
discussed in depth in journals such as ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and
Methodology, ACM Software Engineering Notes, and Annals of Software Engineering.
Many software engineering books have been published in recent years. Some pre-
sent an overview of the entire process while others delve into a few important top-
ics to the exclusion of others. Three anthologies that cover a wide range of software
engineering topics are
Keyes, J., (ed.), Software Engineering Productivity Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1993.
McDermid, J., (ed.), Software Engineer’s Reference Book, CRC Press, 1993.
Marchiniak, J.J. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Software Engineering, Wiley, 1994.
Gautier (Distributed Engineering of Software, Prentice-Hall, 1996) provides suggestions
and guidelines for organizations that must develop software across geographically
dispersed locations.
On the lighter side, a book by Robert Glass (Software Conflict, Yourdon Press, 1991)
presents amusing and controversial essays on software and the software engineer-
ing process. Pressman and Herron (Software Shock, Dorset House, 1991) consider
software and its impact on individuals, businesses, and government.
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI is located at Carnegie-Mellon University)
has been chartered with the responsibility of sponsoring a software engineering mono-
graph series. Practitioners from industry, government, and academia are contribut-