In the 20 years since the first edition of Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach was written, software engineering has evolved from an obscure approach practiced by a relatively small number of zealots to a legitimate engineering discipline. Today, it is recognized as a subject worthy of serious research, conscientious study, and tumultuous debate. Throughout the industry, "software engineer" has replaced "programmer" as the job title of preference. Software process models, software engineering methods, and software tools have been adopted successfully across a broad spectrum of industry applications.

The fifth edition of Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach is intended to serve as a guide to a maturing engineering discipline. The fifth edition, like the four editions that have preceded it, is intended for both students and practitioners, retaining its appeal as a guide to the industry professional and a comprehensive introduction to the student at the upper level undergraduate or first year graduate level. The format and style of the fifth edition have undergone significant change, making the presentation more reader-friendly and the content more easily accessible.

The 32 chapters of the fifth edition have been organized into five parts. This has been done to compartmentalize topics and assist instructors who may not have the time to complete the entire book in one term. Part I, The Product and the Process, presents an introduction to the software engineering milieu. It is intended to introduce the subject matter, and more importantly, to present concepts that will be necessary for later chapters. Part II, Managing Software Projects, presents topics that are relevant to those who plan, manage, and control a software development project. Part III, Conventional Methods for Software Engineering, presents the classical analysis, design, and testing methods that some view as the "conventional" school of software engineering. Part IV, Object-Oriented Software Engineering, presents object-oriented methods across the entire software engineering process, including analysis, design, and testing. Part V, Advanced Software Engineering Topics, presents dedicated chapters that address formal methods, cleanroom software engineering, component-based softare engineering. client-server software engineering, web-engineering, and CASE.

You get much more than a textbook when you use Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, 5/e (SEPA, 5/e). This Web site provides valuable resources for students, instructors, and software professionals. Among the many resources you’ll find within this site are:

• Study Guide - Need a quick review during exam time? The study guide can help by summarizing key points presented within each SEPA, 5/e chapter.

• Self-Tests - Have you learned the key points as you’ve read a chapter? Multiple choice self-tests allow you to test your knowledge of chapter content and tell you where to look for the right answer.

• Web-based Resources - Need to do a bit more research on a software engineering topic? The SEPA, 5/e, web site contains over 500 pointers, organized by chapter, to a broad array of software engineering topics.

• Case Study - Would you like examples of software engineering work products? The case study provides running examples of all important software engineering documents and work products.

• Video - Want to hear what Dr. Pressman himself has to say on a software engineering topic? Take a look

• Supplementary Content - Need even more information? The site contains a collection of supplementary materials that expand on topics presented within the book.

• Message Board - Want to talk with other readers? The message board allows Q&A among students and other and provides a useful mechanism for informal communication.

• Instructor’s Guide - A complete Instructor’s Guide for SEPA, 5/e is available for download. The Guide includes chapter by chapter discussion of the book, suggestions for various course structures and term projects, teaching guidelines, and selected solutions to problems.

• Powerpoint Slides - A full set of MS powerpoint slides may be downloaded to supplement your lecture presentations.

• Test Bank - A collection of suggested test questions (with answers) is provided.

• Tiny Tools - A collection of simple software engineering tools that serve to implement approaches and techniques presented in SEPA, 5/e is provided.

• Page Out - A tool that enables you to develop your own course specific web site.

• Message Board - The message board allows communication among instructors who are using SEPA, 5/e for teaching purposes.

• Documents/Work Product Templates - If you need examples of of the format and content of software engineering work products, they’re provided for download.

• Software Engineering Checklists - When you conduct review or assess software engineering work products, it not a bad idea to have a checklist to guide your evaluation. A wide variety of checklists are provided and links to still more are also included.

• Tiny Tools - There are lots of little things that lead to success software engineering work. These tools will help you with some of them.

• Professional Tools (CASE) - What the best CASE tool for our situation? It’s a commonly asked question. The SEPA, 5/e Web site provides you with links to hundreds of CASE tools and more than a few tools comparisons.

• Software Engineering Resources - If you need to do some research or take an on-line tutorial, the SEPA, 5/e web site contains over 500 pointers to a broad array of software engineering topics.

• Adaptable Process Model - The adaptable process model is a comprehensive process template that can be tuned to your organization’s needs.

• An Industry Quality Video Curriculum - An industry quality video curriculum, already used at hundreds of major companies worldwide, is available to augment SEPA, 5/e. Information about this product is available at the site.

• Industry Commentary - A collection of short essays, extracted from a number of industry sources, are provided to help spur thoughtful debate.

The SEPA, 5/e Web site is an important source of software engineering information, a gateway to still additional information on the Web, and an important part of the learning experience.