Article

Re-founding software engineering – SEMAT at the age of three (keynote abstract)

Authors:

Pontus Johnson,

Mira Kajko-MattssonAuthors Info & Claims

ASE '12: Proceedings of the 27th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering

Pages 15 - 19

https://doi.org/10.1145/2351676.2351679

Published: 03 September 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Software engineering is gravely hampered by immature practices. Specific problems include: The prevalence of fads more typical of the fashion industry than an engineering discipline; a huge number of methods and method variants, with differences little understood and artificially magnified; the lack of credible experimental evaluation and validation; and the split between industry practice and academic research.

At the root of the problems we lack a sound, widely accepted theoretical basis. A prime example of such a basis is Maxwell’s equations in electrical engineering. It is difficult to fathom what electrical engineering would be today without those four concise equations. They are a great example to the statement “There is nothing so practical as a good theory”. In software engineering we have nothing similar, and there is widespread doubt whether it is needed. This talk will argue for the need of a basic theory in software engineering, a theory identifying its pure essence, its common ground or its kernel.

The Semat (Software Engineering Methods and Theory) community addresses this huge challenge. It supports a process to refound software engineering based on a kernel of widely-agreed elements, extensible for specific uses, addressing both technology and people issues. This kernel represents the essence of software engineering. This talk promises to make you see the light in the tunnel.

References

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Jacobson I., Meyer B. 2009. Methods need theory. Dr. Dobb's Journal.

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Jacobson I, Spence I. 2009. Why we need a theory for software engineering. Dr. Dobb's Journal.

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Jacobson I., Meyer B., Soley R. 2009. Call for Action: The Semat Initiative. Dr. Dobb's Journal.

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Johnson, P., Ekstedt M., Jacobson I. 2012. Where's the theory for software engineering? IEEE Software. In press.

Digital Library

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Jacobson I., Meyer B., Soley R. 2009. The Semat Vision Statement. http://blog.paluno.uni-due.de/semat.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/03/SEMAT-vision.pdf.

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Fujitsu, Ivar Jacobson International AB, Model Driven Solutions. 2012. Essence – Kernel and Language for Software Engineering. Initial Submission – Version 1.0.

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Popper, K. 1959. The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Hutchinson & Co.

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Kajko-Mattsson, M., Striewe, M., Goedicke, M., Jacobson, I., Spence, I., Huang, S., McMahon, P., MacIsaac, B., Elvesater, B., Berre, A.J., Seymour, E. 2012. Refounding software engineering: The Semat initiative. In Proceedings of International Conference of Software Engineering (Zurich, Switzerland, June 2-9, 2012). ICSE 2012. IEEE.

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Kajko-Mattsson M., Jacobson I., Goedicke M., Elvesaeter B. 2012. Presentation of the Semat Results at ICSE 2012 in Zurich, http://semat.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/02/Semat_ICSE_Report_clean.pdf.

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Jacobson I., Ng P. W., McMahon P., Spence I., Lidman S. 2013. The Essence of Software Engineering – Applying the SEMAT Kernel. Addison-Wesley. Forthcoming in January, 2013, but available now online in a pre-publication version on safaribooksonline.com.

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Jacobson I., Ng P.W., Spence I. 2007. Enough of Process – Lets do practices. Journal of Object Technology, 6(6):41-67.

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Jacobson I., Huang S., Kajko-Mattsson M., McMahon P., Seymour E. 2012. SEMAT - Three Year Vision” Programming and Computer Software. 38(1): 1-12 (2012).

Digital Library

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Software Engineering Method and Theory, www.semat.org, retrieved on July 19, 2012.

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Azoff, M. Apt Methods and Tools Fujitsu. OVUM Technology Report, Reference Code O100032-002. January 2011, http://www.fujitsu.com/ie/Images/apt-ovum-uk.pdf, retrieved on July 19, 2012.

Cited By

Belikov ARogozov YShevchenko O(2018)Synthesis of the Life Cycle Stages of Information Systems DevelopmentSoftware Engineering and Algorithms in Intelligent Systems10.1007/978-3-319-91186-1_34(331-337)Online publication date: 17-May-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91186-1_34
Bjarnason ESmolander KEngström ERuneson P(2016)A theory of distances in software engineeringInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2015.05.00470:C(204-219)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2015.05.004

Index Terms

Re-founding software engineering – SEMAT at the age of three (keynote abstract)
1. Software and its engineering

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ASE '12: Proceedings of the 27th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering

September 2012

409 pages

ISBN:9781450312042

DOI:10.1145/2351676

General Chair:
Michael Goedicke,
Program Chairs:
Tim Menzies,
Motoshi Saeki

Copyright © 2012 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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SIGSOFT: ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering

In-Cooperation

SIGAI: ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence
Universität Duisburg Essen: Universität Duisburg Essen
TCSE: IEEE Computer Society's Tech. Council on Software Engin.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 03 September 2012

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ASE'12

Sponsor:

SIGSOFT

ASE'12: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering

September 3 - 7, 2012

Essen, Germany

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Cited By

Belikov ARogozov YShevchenko O(2018)Synthesis of the Life Cycle Stages of Information Systems DevelopmentSoftware Engineering and Algorithms in Intelligent Systems10.1007/978-3-319-91186-1_34(331-337)Online publication date: 17-May-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91186-1_34
Bjarnason ESmolander KEngström ERuneson P(2016)A theory of distances in software engineeringInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2015.05.00470:C(204-219)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2015.05.004

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