Software Engineering Principles & Requirement Engineering

This unit begins with the Core Principles of Software Engineering — seven fundamental guidelines including "keep it simple," "maintain vision," and "plan ahead for reuse" — that guide high-quality software design and development. It then covers Software Communication Principles and Practices (listening carefully, preparing before communicating, face-to-face communication, documentation) and Software Planning Principles (understanding project scope, involving the customer, iterative planning, risk consideration), both essential for effective project management. The notes transition into Requirement Engineering, detailing its five key steps: Feasibility Study, Requirements Elicitation, Requirements Specification, Requirements Verification & Validation, and Requirements Management. A major focus is placed on the Types of Requirements — Functional Requirements (what the system should do) and Non-Functional Requirements (product, organizational, and external requirements covering reliability, usability, efficiency, portability, interoperability, legislative and ethical aspects). Finally, the unit explains the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document — its purpose, necessity, and key characteristics like correctness, completeness, consistency, and ranking for importance and stability — making it essential reading for understanding how user needs are translated into documented, actionable requirements.