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Software Engineer
Tue, 09/22/2009 - 09:46 — jose.antonA software engineer is much more than a programmer. He is more like a army general marshalling his troop of programmers to achieve a strategic goal.
A software engineer is not a programmer though the terms have been used to describe any person associated with computer software. Software engineering has also been confused with Computer science. Though a proper definition of a software engineer is elusive, an attempt can be made to enumerate his qualifications. It should be mentioned that there is no clear consensus to what software engineering actually means and several professional bodies, national and international have defined software engineering in different ways.
Software development life cycle or SDLC consists of many parts and programming is a part of it. Whereas software engineering would include design, development, testing implementation, reliability and maintenance of software systems.
A software engineer usually starts off his career in a firm as a programmer and moves up the ladder to assume position as a software architect or engineer. This is one of the reasons why students in the United States of America avoid software engineering degrees because of the fear of being displaced by cheap labor from third world countries. However, it is fallacy that the job of a software engineer can be displaced by low level programmers. This notion of vulnerability has most probably arisen due to the misunderstanding of the role which software engineer plays in SDLC or software development life cycle. The design and architecture of software is a more involved process than programming. With the advent of more complex computer applications, many of them straddling the globe, the role of a software engineer has become all the more critical. Design considerations and rigorous implementation with best engineering practices is required to drive software development. A thorough understanding of computer science combined with professional project management skills, high level of mathematical and analytical ability is required to make a genuine software engineer. Mere capability to write a few hundred lines of code is insufficient to create a robust software application.
It is tempting to compare a software engineer with a civil engineer. A good civil engineer should have a good understanding of mechanics, mathematics and material science. A construction worker merely has to understand brick and mortar. Likewise the mortar of software is the code which programmers write whereas a software engineer is the civil engineer.
Software engineer designs and execute software projects providing reliability, maintainability and robustness. He has to keep in mind systems and processes and has to understand the underlying business logic before undertaking software projects. The job of a software engineer goes much beyond that of a software programmer.
By Jose L. Anton, CEO
GreenCode Technologies, Inc.
(954) 840-8068
What is an application suite?
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 08:11 — jose.anton
An application suite consists of applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation.
An application suite is one in which one single application package has a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation. There are many such application suites available in the market.
The most popular application suite is the Microsoft office suite. This has Microsoft word. Excel, PowerPoint and publisher in addition to calendar and a email application. Each of these applications can be purchased and installed separately or as one integrated suite. The main advantage of an Office suite is the ability to import projects from one to another. For example an excel sheet can be embedded or imported into a word document. This means that one need not reinvent the wheel again and again. If a excel sheet has been prepared earlier, it can be incorporated in many word programs. PowerPoint presentations can import complex excel sheets and provide interactivity.
Other application suites in the market are WordPerfect Office, Lotus SmartSuite, StarOffice, OpenOffice.org, Google Apps and graphics suite. OpenOffice is an application suite which is open source and free download. OpenOffice open source project is presently managed by Sun Microsystems .The same company offers StarOffice which is a paid version.
The latest offering from Google requires a special mention here. Google applications provide a common platform for managing documents, Presentations and a spread sheet online. This means can the applications can be accessed online. The salient point in Google apps is the sharing and collaboration which is possible in real time. Several people across the globe can work on a single document in real time, which is a revolution of sorts. The application is free for individuals which makes it a potential threat to Microsoft office suite. Lately Google has added an offline capability which again is a versatile tool which will increase its popularity. Another major advantage of Google apps is that the documents can be stored in various formats including word and excel. Google apps is platform independent which means everyone can access their apps without bothering about their system software or operating system.
OpenOffice.org is another nifty application suite which is available as a free download and capable of doing almost everything word can.
An application suite is a bundle of interoperable applications. The open source movement has introduced a variety of free application suites which are much more powerful than Microsoft Office suite. The capability to collaborate online in real time is a powerful feature introduced by Google. The application suite war is certainly heading for a climax in the near future.
By Jose L. Anton, CEO
GreenCode Technologies, Inc.
(954) 840-8068
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