1. Because of their roles in developing software systems, software engineers have significant opportunities to do good or cause harm, to enable others to do good or cause harm, or to influence others to do good or cause harm.
2. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, development, certification, maintenance and testing of software systems.
3. Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy or harm the environment.
4. Ensure that there is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any software, processes, research, writing, or other intellectual property to which a software engineer has contributed.
5. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
6. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
7. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
8. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any limitations of their experience and education.
9. Moderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the client and the users with the public good.
10. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
1. Be accurate in stating the characteristics of software on which they work, avoiding not only false claims but also claims that might reasonably be supposed to be speculative, vacuous, deceptive, misleading, or doubtful.
2. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
3. Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.
4. Keep private any confidential information gained in their professional work, where such confidentiality is consistent with the public interest and consistent with the law.
5. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
6. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
7. Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software and related documents on which they work.
8. Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
9. In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall, as appropriate:Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for promotion of quality and reduction of risk.
10. Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public interest.
1. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
2. Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate description of the conditions of employment.
3. s humanity, in special care owed to people affected by the work of software engineers, and the unique elements of the practice of software engineering.
4. Ensure that software engineers know the employer's policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files and information that is confidential to the employer or confidential to others.
5. Principle 4: JUDGMENTSoftware engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
6. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
7. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
8. Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them.
9. Principle 6: PROFESSIONSoftware engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
10. Principle 3: PRODUCTSoftware engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
1. Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer's policy or of this Code.
2. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
3. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
4. Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (Full Version)PREAMBLEComputers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment and society at large.
5. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
6. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
7. Avoid associations with businesses and organizations which are in conflict with this code.
8. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
9. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
10. The Code contains eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession.
1. Principle 8: SELFSoftware engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.
2. Ethical tensions can best be addressed by thoughtful consideration of fundamental principles, rather than blind reliance on detailed regulations.
3. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
4. The Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
5. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.
6. Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
8. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
9. Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.
10. As this Code expresses the consensus of the profession on ethical issues, it is a means to educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the ethical obligations of all software engineers.