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Computer Software Engineer - Final Project

Abstract
Computer software development is the process of analyzing provided information, then using that information to create an application or program to process that information quickly and accurately. Computer software engineers are a very important part of making a computer work properly. Besides the software engineer having to develop their own software, they will also be extensively testing the software that their peers have created. Becoming a software engineer is a lifetime learning process, and will require much patience, and a love of learning.

A Brief History
It’s hard to imagine, but the very first working computer took up an entire room. It was 8 feet tall, used almost 500 miles of wire, and used vacuum tubes instead of transistors to transmit data; most of the data that was actually transmitted was just complex math problems, in essence, a huge calculator. This huge calculator was known as Mark I. The first of these machines were designed and constructed in 1946. The first mini-computer, or home computer, did not even come along until 1975. This version of the computer was introduced by Microinstrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), and was dubbed “Altair 8800.”
The first computers were created just for computing large amounts of information, and for book keeping. With the needs of computers growing, so did the need for more people to understand how to use them, and enters software. “BASIC was the first modern programming language, a simple system that almost anyone could learn. Soon it was necessary to create more complex sets of languages and instructions, and this was called software” (Landauer, 2001, p.537-538). The first versions of software were just simple line commands known as DOS, but as time went on DOS became harder to use. One little error in spelling in the file path, or even if you forgot what drive your file was on, it was lost. The need for simpler, easier to use, software was needed; and enter the computer software...