Editing History of software engineering (section)

== Overview ==
The evolution of software engineering is notable in a number of areas:
* Emergence as a profession: By the early 1980s software engineering had already emerged as a ''bona fide'' [[software engineering professionalism|profession]],<ref>"Software engineering … has recently emerged as a discipline in its own right."
{{cite book
 | last=Sommerville
 | first=Ian
 | title=Software Engineering
 | publisher=Addison-Wesley
 | year=1985
 | orig-year=1982
 | isbn = 978-0-201-14229-7
 }}</ref> to stand beside computer science and traditional engineering.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
* [[Women, girls and information technology|Role of women]]: Before 1970 men filling the more prestigious and better paying [[hardware engineering]] roles often delegated the writing of software to women, and legends such as [[Grace Hopper]] or [[Margaret Hamilton (scientist)|Margaret Hamilton]] filled many [[computer programming]] jobs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Recoding Gender|url=https://archive.org/details/recodinggenderwo00abba|url-access=limited|last=Abbate|first=Janet|publisher=MIT Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0262534536|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/recodinggenderwo00abba/page/n47 39]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Computer Boys Take Over|last=Ensmenger|first=Nathan|publisher=MIT Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0262517966|location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref><br /> Today, fewer women work in software engineering than in other professions, a situation whose cause is not clearly identified. Many academic and professional organizations {{Who|date=February 2015}} consider this situation unbalanced and are trying hard to solve it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/17/356944145/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding|title=Episode 576: When Women Stopped Coding|date=Oct 17, 2014|website=NPR Planet Money|access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref>
* Processes: [[Software development process|Processes]] have become a big part of software engineering. They are hailed for their potential to improve software but sharply criticized for their potential to constrict programmers.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
* Cost of hardware: The relative cost of software versus hardware has changed substantially over the last 50 years. When [[Mainframe computer|mainframes]] were expensive and required large support staffs, the few organizations buying them also had the resources to fund large, expensive custom software engineering projects. Computers are now much more numerous and much more powerful, which has several effects on software. The larger market can support large projects to create [[commercial off the shelf]] software, as done by companies such as [[Microsoft]]. The cheap machines allow each programmer to have a terminal capable of fairly rapid [[Compiler|compilation]]. The programs in question can use techniques such as [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection]], which make them easier and faster for the programmer to write. On the other hand, many fewer organizations are interested in employing programmers for large custom software projects, instead using [[commercial off the shelf]] software as much as possible.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}