Software processes: a retrospective and a path to the future

Software engineering focuses on producing quality software products through quality processes. The attention to processes dates back to the early 70’s, when software engineers realized that the desired qualities (such as reliability, efficiency, evolvability, ease of use, etc.) could only be injected in the products by following a disciplined flow of activities. Such a discipline would also make the production process more predictable and economical. Most of the software process work, however, remained in an informal stage until the late 80’s. From then on, the software process was recognized by researchers as a specific subject that deserved special attention and dedicated scientific investigation, the goal being to understand its foundations, develop useful models, identify methods, provide tool support, and help manage its progress. This paper will try to characterize the main approaches to software processes that were followed historically by software engineering, to identify ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 1998
• Where: SOPR
• Authors: Gianpaolo Cugola, Carlo Ghezzi
• Keywords: Software, Software Engineering, Software Process, SOPR 1998