Book,
Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge: 2004 Version SWEBOK
IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA, (2004)
Abstract
The purpose of the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge is to provide a validated classification of the bounds of the software engineering discipline and topical access that will support this discipline. The Body of Knowledge is subdivided into ten software engineering Knowledge Areas (KA) that differentiate among the various important concepts, allowing readers to find their way quickly to subjects of interest. Upon finding a subject, readers are referred to key papers or book chapters. Emphases on engineering practice lead the Guide toward a strong relationship with the normative literature. The normative literature is validated by consensus formed among practitioners and is concentrated in standards and related documents. The two major standards bodies for software engineering (IEEE Computer Society Software and Systems Engineering Standards Committee and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7) are represented in the project. The Guide is oriented toward a variety of audiences, all over the world. It aims to serve public and private organizations in need of a consistent view of software engineering for defining education and training requirements, classifying jobs, developing performance evaluation policies or specifying software development tasks. It also addresses practicing, or managing, software engineers and the officials responsible for making public policy regarding licensing and professional guidelines. In addition, professional societies and educators defining the certification rules, accreditation policies for university curricula, and guidelines for professional practice will benefit from the SWEBOK Guide, as well as the students learning the software engineering profession and educators and trainers engaged in defining curricula and course content. It is hoped that readers will find this book useful in guiding them toward the knowledge and resources they need in their lifelong career development as software engineering professionals. The current Guide marks the end of the Ironman period by providing a Guide that has achieved consensus through broad review and trial application. The overall goal of the current revision is to improve the readability, consistency, and usability of the Guide. In several cases, the topical breakdown of a KA was rearranged to make it more usable. The reference list is updated so that it will be easier to obtain the references. Trial usage resulted in the recommendation that three KAs should be rewritten. Finally, some KAs were revised to remove material duplicating that of other KAs.
