1. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
2. Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them.
3. 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.
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. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Identify, document, and report significant issues of social concern, of which they are aware, in software or related documents, to the employer or the client.
10. 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.
1. Credit fully the work of others and refrain from taking undue credit.
2. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
3. Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project on which they work or propose.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Work to develop software and related documents that respect the privacy of those who will be affected by that software.
7. 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.
8. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.
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. Improve their understanding of the software and related documents on which they work and of the environment in which they will be used.
1. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Accept full responsibility for their own work.
2. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
3. Principle 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYERSoftware engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest.
4. 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.
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. 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.
7. 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.
8. Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a colleague.
9. Principle 7: COLLEAGUESSoftware engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
10. 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.
1. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
2. Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this Code.
3. It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission.
4. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
5. 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.
6. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
7. Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications of such commitment.
8. In all these judgments concern for the health, safety and welfare of the public is primary; that is, the "Public Interest" is central to this Code.
9. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
10. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
1. 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.
2. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
3. 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.
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. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
6. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
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. 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.
9. Ethical tensions can best be addressed by thoughtful consideration of fundamental principles, rather than blind reliance on detailed regulations.
10. 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.