Software Engineering: A Lifecycle Approach traces the development of the four-decade-old discipline of Software Engineering and compiles the important historical and modern concepts, approaches, and tools of software development, grouping them as chapters specific to phases in the software development lifecycle. Two distinguishing features of the book are: (i) A strong emphasis on the engineering aspects of software development with the total exclusion of the topics on software project management, and (ii) An elaborate coverage of the requirement analysis. The former has enabled the author to focus on the engineering aspects of the subject, and the latter makes an improvement over the deficiencies of other books on the subject, which often make passing reference to this very important phase of software development. Another highlight of the book is the reference to a large number of original sources from which much of the contents has been drawn.

The book is organized in 24 chapters, with two chapters devoted to the Basics, eight chapters to Requirements, six chapters to Design, two chapters to Detailed Design and Coding, five chapters to Testing, and one chapter to Beyond Development of Software.