Page 4 - Software Engineer

CHAPTER 1

What Does a Software

Engineer Do?

Software engineers design, develop, and test the software used
by every kind of electronic device. They also create, test, and eval-
uate the applications that make computers and electronic devices
work. Basically, software engineers translate hardware data into
a language each device can understand and then turn that con-
tent into something a human can understand. They write a code
called logic that controls the interactions between different parts
of the hardware itself (such as between the CPU and the mother-
board—the heart of the computer where all the main circuits are
stored), the hardware and devices/drivers (such as between the
motherboard and printers), the hardware and operating system
(such as between the motherboard and Windows), and the oper-
ating system and software (such as between Windows and Word).
Creating software is also known as designing, writing, or cod-
ing. Engineers use different programming languages when they
create software, depending on the purpose of the program and
the computing environment in which the program runs. Although
highly industry dependent, the programming languages most of-
ten used are C, C++, Java, Javascript, .NET, and Python. “Last
I heard, there are over four hundred software languages,” said a
senior software engineer who works for a government defense
contractor. “Many factors go into deciding which language is ideal
for each situation.” 3
Software engineers might be called software designers, devel-
opers, or programmers, depending on which specifi c tasks they
perform. However, all are grouped under the heading of software
engineer. In general, software engineers are divided into two cat-
egories: applications engineers and systems engineers. Typically
they work at the same company doing different parts of the same
project or work individually on separate tasks.

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