History of software engineering

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "History of software engineering" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

History of computing
Hardware
Hardware before 1960 Hardware 1960s to present
Software
Software Software configuration management Unix Free software and open-source software
Computer science
Artificial intelligence Compiler construction Early computer science Operating systems Programming languages Prominent pioneers Software engineering
Modern concepts
General-purpose CPUs Graphical user interface Internet Laptops Personal computers Video games World Wide Web Cloud Quantum
By country
Bulgaria Eastern Bloc Poland Romania South America Soviet Union Yugoslavia
Timeline of computing
before 1950 1950–1979 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–present more timelines ...
Glossary of computer science
Category
v t e

The history of software engineering begins around the 1960s. Writing software has evolved into a profession concerned with how best to maximize the quality of software and of how to create it. Quality can refer to how maintainable software is, to its stability, speed, usability, testability, readability, size, cost, security, and number of flaws or "bugs", as well as to less measurable qualities like elegance, conciseness, and customer satisfaction, among many other attributes. How best to create high quality software is a separate and controversial problem covering software design principles, so-called "best practices" for writing code, as well as broader management issues such as optimal team size, process, how best to deliver software on time and as quickly as possible, work-place "culture", hiring practices, and so forth. All this falls under the broad rubric of software engineering.^[1]