Software Development

SEI Report
Over the last 20 years, software tools available to developers has expanded considerably. We illustrate this change by observing some distinctions in terminology.
Publisher

Software Engineering Institute

CMU/SEI Report Number
CMU/SEI-87-TR-024

Abstract

"Environment" refers to the collection of hardware and software tools that a system developer uses to build software systems. As technology improves and user expectations grow, an environment's functionality tends to change. Over the last 20 years, the set of software tools available to developers has expanded considerably. We can illustrate this change by observing some distinctions in the terminology. "Programming environment" and "software development environment" are often used synonymously, but here we make a distinction between the two.

Cite This SEI Report

Dart, S., & Ellison, R. (1987, October 1). Software Development. (SEI Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-024). Retrieved May 30, 2026, from https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/.

@techreport{dart_1987,
author={Dart, Susan and Ellison, Robert},
title={Software Development},
month={{Oct},
year={{1987},
number={{CMU/SEI-87-TR-024},
howpublished={Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library},
url={https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/},
note={Accessed: 2026-May-30}
}

Dart, Susan, and Robert Ellison. "Software Development." (CMU/SEI-87-TR-024). Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library. Software Engineering Institute, October 1, 1987. https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/.

S. Dart, and R. Ellison, "Software Development," Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library. Software Engineering Institute, SEI Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-024, 1-Oct-1987 [Online]. Available: https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/. [Accessed: 30-May-2026].

Dart, Susan, and Robert Ellison. "Software Development." (SEI Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-024). Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute's Digital Library, Software Engineering Institute, 1 Oct. 1987. https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/. Accessed 30 May. 2026.

Dart, Susan; & Ellison, Robert. Software Development. CMU/SEI-87-TR-024. Software Engineering Institute. 1987. https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/software-development/