Software Systems Engineering: a definition
Software Systems Engineering
is the branch of systems engineering concerned with the development of
large and complex software intensive systems. It focusses on: the real-world
goals for, services provided by, and constraints on such systems; the precise
specification of system structure and behaviour, and the implementation
of these specifications; the activities required in order to develop an
assurance that the specifications and real-world goals have been met; the
evolution of such systems over time and across system families. It is also
concerned with the processes, methods and tools for the development of
software intensive systems in an economic and timely manner.
{with apologies to Pamela
Zave and others}