1
The Software Engineering Code of Ethics
and Professional Practice
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (Version 5.2) as
recommended by the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics
and Professional Practices and jointly approved by the ACM and the IEEE-CS as the
standard for teaching and practicing software engineering.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice (Short Version)
PREAMBLE
The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high level of the abstraction;
the clauses that are included in the full version give examples and details of how these
aspirations change the way we act as software engineering professionals. Without the
aspirations, the details can become legalistic and tedious; without the details, the
aspirations can become high sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the
details form a cohesive code.
Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification,
design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected
profession. In accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the
public, software engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:
1. PUBLIC – Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER – Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in
the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
3. PRODUCT – Software engineers shall ensure that their products and
related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
4. JUDGMENT – Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in
their professional judgment.
5. MANAGEMENT – Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to
and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and
maintenance.
Copyright (c) 1999 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. and the
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
, 2
6. PROFESSION – Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of
the profession consistent with the public interest.
7. COLLEAGUES – Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their
colleagues.
8. SELF – Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the
practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the
profession.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice (Full Version)
PREAMBLE
Computers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government,
medicine, education, entertainment and society at large. 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.
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. 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. In accordance with
that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and
Professional Practice.
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. The
Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups,
and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
The Clauses of each Principle are illustrations of some of the obligations included in
these relationships. These obligations are founded in the software engineer’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. The Code prescribes these as
obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify
errors of omission or commission. The list of Principles and Clauses is not exhaustive.
The Clauses should not be read as separating the acceptable from the unacceptable in
professional conduct in all practical situations. The Code is not a simple ethical
algorithm that generates ethical decisions. In some situations standards may be in
tension with each other or with standards from other sources. These situations require
Copyright (c) 1999 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. and the
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
The Software Engineering Code of Ethics
and Professional Practice
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (Version 5.2) as
recommended by the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics
and Professional Practices and jointly approved by the ACM and the IEEE-CS as the
standard for teaching and practicing software engineering.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice (Short Version)
PREAMBLE
The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high level of the abstraction;
the clauses that are included in the full version give examples and details of how these
aspirations change the way we act as software engineering professionals. Without the
aspirations, the details can become legalistic and tedious; without the details, the
aspirations can become high sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the
details form a cohesive code.
Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification,
design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected
profession. In accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the
public, software engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:
1. PUBLIC – Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER – Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in
the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
3. PRODUCT – Software engineers shall ensure that their products and
related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
4. JUDGMENT – Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in
their professional judgment.
5. MANAGEMENT – Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to
and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and
maintenance.
Copyright (c) 1999 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. and the
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
, 2
6. PROFESSION – Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of
the profession consistent with the public interest.
7. COLLEAGUES – Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their
colleagues.
8. SELF – Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the
practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the
profession.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice (Full Version)
PREAMBLE
Computers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government,
medicine, education, entertainment and society at large. 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.
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. 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. In accordance with
that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and
Professional Practice.
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. The
Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups,
and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
The Clauses of each Principle are illustrations of some of the obligations included in
these relationships. These obligations are founded in the software engineer’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. The Code prescribes these as
obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify
errors of omission or commission. The list of Principles and Clauses is not exhaustive.
The Clauses should not be read as separating the acceptable from the unacceptable in
professional conduct in all practical situations. The Code is not a simple ethical
algorithm that generates ethical decisions. In some situations standards may be in
tension with each other or with standards from other sources. These situations require
Copyright (c) 1999 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. and the
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
