1. 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.
2. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
3. Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to evaluate.
4. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
5. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
6. Extend software engineering knowledge by appropriate participation in professional organizations, meetings and publications.
7. Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related documents.
8. Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.
9. 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.
10. 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.
1. 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.
2. Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
3. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
4. Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work or propose to work by an appropriate combination of education and training, and experience.
5. 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.
6. Credit fully the work of others and refrain from taking undue credit.
7. Ensure adequate documentation, including significant problems discovered and solutions adopted, for any project on which they work.
8. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
9. 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.
10. 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.
1. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
2. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
3. In particular, software engineers shall continually endeavor to:Further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development, maintenance and testing of software and related documents, together with the management of the development process.
4. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Principle 4: JUDGMENTSoftware engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
8. 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.
9. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Accept full responsibility for their own work.
10. Principle 7: COLLEAGUESSoftware engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
1. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
2. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
3. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The Code is not simply for adjudicating the nature of questionable acts; it also has an important educational function.
7. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
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. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
10. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
1. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
2. 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.
3. Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a project.
4. 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.
5. These situations require the software engineer to use ethical judgment to act in a manner which is most consistent with the spirit of the Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, given the circumstances.
6. 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.
7. Ethical tensions can best be addressed by thoughtful consideration of fundamental principles, rather than blind reliance on detailed regulations.
8. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
9. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
10. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.