The 'Grand Challenge' in Informatics: Engineering Software-Intensive Systems

The science of information and information processing, informatics comprises many areas and includes principles of computing, storing, communicating, and visualizing information, and formalisms to describe information-processing procedures. The development and production of information-processing systems is based on software support systems such as software tools or product data repositories. Software and systems engineering is thus the key discipline for constructing information-processing systems. In particular, software and systems engineering addresses issues such as requirements engineering, architectural design, implementation, reliability engineering, and long-term maintenance. Developing a methodology for specifying and verifying software-intensive systems poses a grand challenge that a broad stream of research must address

Engineering Software-Intensive Systems

Informatics as well has an engineering aspect, which addresses the engineering and operation of information-processing systems that compute, store, communicate, and visualize information. Today, information processing plays an integral role in all kinds of technical and organizational processes and a wide range of products. These processes and products are increasingly characterized by the inclusion of software that essentially enhances their functionality. Software and programmability deeply influence their usage, innovative enhancement, techniques to develop and improve them, and how they are produced. Thus, software-intensive systems constitute a particular breed of information processing.