There are many books on specific topics or books on software engineering in general. Most of these books cover only recent technologies or technologies in use but there are few books in existence that give a broad coverage of researches and provide a perspective on how these researches are inter-related and have evolved, which is the understanding needed by all researchers and software engineers. Often beginners must do a labor intensive literature survey to start a research, or they often reinvent the wheel. Handbook of Software Engineering has an ambitious but very necessary brief. It seeks to provide a complete overview of the field of software engineering with additional focus on the historical perspective and description of technology evolution that provides a crucial context for researchers as well as engineers to develop new solutions in a rapidly advancing area. The book aims to give a broad coverage of definition of terms, concepts, engineering principles, methods, and processes, and an understanding of how these have evolved but welded into a discursive narrative in the form of topical chapters.
This book will be divided into sections listed below and items in each section will be organized in a time line to give a historical perspective on technology development and evolution.