2016 Reports

Software Engineering Methodologies and Life

Lennon, Scott

The paradigms of design patterns and software engineering methodologies are methods that apply to areas outside the software space. As a business owner and student, I implement many software principles daily in both my work and personal life. After experiencing the power of Agile methodologies outside the scope of software engineering, I always think about how I can integrate the computer science skills that I am learning at Columbia in my life. For my study, I seek to learn about other software engineering development processes that can be useful in life. I theorize that if a model such as Agile can provide me with useful tools, then a model that the government and most of the world trusts should have paradigms I can learn with as well. The software model I will study is open source software (OSS). My research examines the lateral software standards of (OSS) and closed source software (CSS). For the scope of this paper, I will focus on research primarily on Linux as the OSS model and Agile as the CSS model. OSS has had an extraordinary impact on the software revolution [1], and CSS models have gained such popularity that its paradigms extend far beyond the software engineering space. Before delving into research, I thought the methodologies of OSS and CSS would be radically different. My study shall describe the similarities that exist between these two methodologies. In the process of my research, I was able to implement the values and paradigms that define the OSS development model to work more productively in my business. Software engineering core values and models can be used as a tool to improve our lives.