Ethics

CS 415, Software Engineering II

Mark Ardis, Rose-Hulman Institute

April 15, 2003

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"Think just a little bit about who you are and where you are going, about being a professional in the true sense, about values, and about heroes ... and when on occasion you encounter moments of discouragement, as you will, it will lift you over those moments into the sunshine beyond."

-- Harry A. Blackmun, Harvard Law Magazine, July 1994

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Requirements for a Profession

1. extensive learning and training

2. code of ethics

3. disciplinary system for members

4. emphasis on social responsibility

5. license

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Professional Societies

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Software

Engineering (SIGSOFT) Institute of Electrical and Electronics

Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society (IEEE-CS) Technical Committee on Software

Engineering (TCSE)

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International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE) Specialty areas (OOPSLA, ISSTA)

Conferences Sponsored by Professional Societies

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Journals and Magazines

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and

Methodology (TOSEM) IEEE-CS

Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE)

Software magazine

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Software Engineering Curricula

Many MS programs in software engineering (MSE)

Few undergraduate programs in software engineering (BSSE)

Many CS undergraduate programs are close to BSSE

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Software Engineering Coordinating Committee (SWECC)

Joint effort of ACM and IEEE-CS Mission is to "foster evolution of software

engineering as a professional computing discipline"

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SWECC Projects

Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) Education Code of Ethics

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Cartoon of the Day

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Code of Ethics (1/4)

1 PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.

2 CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.

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Code of Ethics (2/4)

3 PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.

4 JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.

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Code of Ethics (3/4)

5 MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.

6 PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.

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Code of Ethics (4/4)

7 COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

8 SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

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Case Study 1

Your company has worked hard to specify and design a new system for the federal government. Your contract was fixed-price, so all the extra overtime your team spent on the design was done for free. Now you have moved into the implementation contract, which includes extra fees for overtime. Your boss comes to your group and asks each of you to add overtime hours to your weekly time sheets to collect some of the money he feels you are owed from your work on the previous phase.

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Case Study 2

Your company is working on a system for landing airplanes by autopilot. You notice that insufficient time is planned for system testing.