A Concise Introduction To Software Engineering: With Open Source and GenAI (Undergraduate Topics In Computer Science)

Software engineering has changed: A software project today is likely to use large language models (LLMs) for some tasks and will employ some opensource software. It is therefore important to integrate open source and use of LLMs in teaching software engineering a key goal of this textbook.This readerfriendly textbook/reference introduces a carefully curated set of concepts and practices essential for key tasks in software projects. It begins with a chapter covering industrystandard software, opensource tools, and the basics of prompt engineering for LLMs. The second chapter delves into project management, including development process models, planning, and teamworking. Subsequent chapters focus on requirements analysis and specification, architecture design, software design, coding, testing, and application deployment.Each chapter presents concepts, practical methods, examples, the application of LLMs, and the role of opensource software. A companion provides some comprehensive case studies, as well as teaching material including presentation slides.This textbook is ideal for an introductory course on software engineering where the objective is to develop knowledge and skills to execute a projectspecifically in a team employing contemporary software engineering practices and using open source and LLMs. It is also suitable for professionals who want to be introduced to the systematic approach of software engineering and/or use of open source and LLMs.The author is a distinguished professor at IIITDelhi and a wellknown academic in software engineering. He has served as vice president in Infosys Technologies Limited and as a visiting researcher at Microsoft Corporation.Reviews of the first edition:"This book's title provides an excellent description of its content.... This compact volume is organized into eight wellfocused chapters containing numerous examples and welldesigned selftest exercises. Includes an excellent collection of references and a very useful index. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upperdivision undergraduate through professional readers; twoyear technical program students." (J. Beidler, Choice, Vol. 46 (6))"Jalote's intention in this book is to present just enough material to teach beginning software engineers what they need to know to do a development project that carries a smallproduct from conception through delivery. The result is a short book... making this sort of book very attractive as a text for introductory software engineering.... topics are well chosen and their discussion is good." (Christopher Fox, ACM Computing Reviews)