1. Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body concerned with software related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have undisclosed potential conflicts of interest.
2. Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this Code.
3. Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to evaluate.
4. The dynamic and demanding context of software engineering requires a code that is adaptable and relevant to new situations as they occur.
5. Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
6. Consider issues of physical disabilities, allocation of resources, economic disadvantage and other factors that can diminish access to the benefits of software.
7. 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.
8. Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software and related documents on which they work.
9. Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same professionalism as new development.
10. 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.
1. Keep private any confidential information gained in their professional work, where such confidentiality is consistent with the public interest and consistent with the law.
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. 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.
4. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
5. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good.
6. Assign work only after taking into account appropriate contributions of education and experience tempered with a desire to further that education and experience.
7. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
8. 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.
9. Work to develop software and related documents that respect the privacy of those who will be affected by that software.
10. Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
5. Principle 4: JUDGMENTSoftware engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
6. PRINCIPLESPrinciple 1: PUBLICSoftware engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Accept full responsibility for their own work.
8. Principle 6: PROFESSIONSoftware engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
9. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
10. Principle 3: PRODUCTSoftware engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
1. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
2. Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.
3. The dynamic and demanding context of software engineering requires a code that is adaptable and relevant to new situations as they occur.
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. Avoid associations with businesses and organizations which are in conflict with this code.
6. The Code is not simply for adjudicating the nature of questionable acts; it also has an important educational function.
7. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
8. Express concerns to the people involved when significant violations of this Code are detected unless this is impossible, counter-productive, or dangerous.
9. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
10. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
1. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
2. 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.
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. Principle 5: MANAGEMENTSoftware engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance .
5. Be careful to use only accurate data derived by ethical and lawful means, and use it only in ways properly authorized.
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. 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.
8. Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a project.
9. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
10. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.