Ethical and Moral Aspects: Software Specification Fulfilment

This essay delves into the crucial ethical and moral responsibilities of computer programmers, particularly in the context of software specification. It highlights the diverse tasks undertaken by computing professionals, emphasizing the importance of consistent performance and the impact of programmers' decisions on system functionality. The essay explores the rise of ethical standards in the tech industry, emphasizing the need for programmers to understand ethical qualities, professional treatment of software, and the consequences of their actions. It discusses the ethical obligations, including the use of fair and professional treatment of software systems, and the need to consider the global community of users. The essay also addresses the programmer's responsibility in specifying software, mitigating potential ethical problems, and ensuring the protection of user data and privacy through high-level security measures. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of ethical and moral considerations in fulfilling software specifications, ensuring products meet customer needs and adhere to ethical codes.

Running head: FULFILMENT OF SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION
Fulfilment of Software Specification
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Ethical and Moral Responsibility of Computer Programmer................................................2
2.2 Responsibility of Computer Programmer based on Software Specification.........................3
3. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................4
4. References....................................................................................................................................6

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1. Introduction
The different computing professionals perform different kinds of tasks. They perform
several kinds of tasks such as writing of specifications, designing of instruction pipelines,
diagnosing timing anomalies within embedded systems and also validating software systems.
The computing professionals also hold responsibility for performing their tasks in a consistent
manner (Weizenbaum 2017). The decisions made by different computer programmers would be
affecting the functionality and performance of the computing systems. Computer programmers
also face different kinds of ethical issues based on hacking of software systems. Hence,
protecting the software systems within the computer is the major responsibility.
2. Discussion
2.1 Ethical and Moral Responsibility of Computer Programmer
In the recent times, there have been a major form of rise of the number of computing
devices from all over the world. With the rise of technology, ethical standards and norms are
very much crucial for computer programmers. The basic kinds of ethical qualities that would
mainly be required for programmers and testers include the understanding of the morale of
corporate world and motivations, varied knowledge of technical and social problems and various
others (Gotterbarn, D., 2017).
The ethical obligations of computer programmers include the use of fair and professional
treatment of software systems. They also include the professional treatment of products that they
would be dealing with (Mittelstadt et al. 2016). Computer programmers adopt different ethical
standards that would be independent of the business systems. Avoiding the impact of ethics
within software systems, might lead to tremendous impacts for the company and the users of the

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softwares. The most common problem within the impact of computer software systems is that
the unethical behaviour of a computer programmer might lead to an effect on the global
community of users. The recent forms of development within the fourth-generation languages
could be defined as an alternative based on the traditional linear based approach (Berreby et al.
2015). This approach is described for programming based on specification, coding, perform tests
and thus be able to maintain the stages in a proper order.
Establishment and maintaining of the strict rules within the development of software
would require cooperative efforts. An ethical code for different computer programmer is that
they should be able to think of the consequences based on the specification of their software.
They should be able to measure the impacts that the software would be making. The computer
programmer should also be able to measure and list the different kinds of ethical and legal issues
that might be faced by the users. Accordingly, the programmer should be able to mitigate and
take regulatory measures based on resolving them in order to maintain stability within the
software (Lurie and Mark 2016).
2.2 Responsibility of Computer Programmer based on Software Specification
There are different kinds of ethical problems that might arise in the future. These
problems would become tough to detect in the future. Hence, the computing and software
systems should be efficient enough for mitigating the raised issues and thus be able to solve
critical kinds of problems. The computer programmers should thus be efficient enough to
understand the ethical responsibilities based on the understanding the importance of specifying
the correct form of computer software (Fenton and Bieman 2014).
The principles of computer programming define the importance of software systems
based on affecting the quality of life to all people. This would also be essential for protecting the

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fundamental rights of the public who would be making use of the computer systems. The most
essential aim of computer programmers would be based on minimizing the negative and harmful
consequences of recommending the improper software systems. The computer programmer
should also be responsible for mitigating the threats that are in relation to health and safety of the
computer users. During the phases of design of software systems, the computer programmer
should be able to ensure that the different products should be able to meet the needs of the
society. They should not also violate the basic rules of the design of software systems (Jorgensen
2013).
There are different software systems that enable the collection of personal information of
a user and exchange them for their internal purposes. These systems should be efficient enough
to ensure the safety of the information gathered from the consumers (Barzel and Barr 2013). The
computer programmer should be able to implement a high level of security measure within the
software systems. They should be able to implement high level of integrity and privacy within
the software systems. This would include the taking of precautions in order to ensure data
accuracy. The proper form of fulfilment of software specifications as per the prescribed norms
would be able to ensure the safety of the data. This would ensure the protection of data from
unauthorized access or any form of accidental disclosure to unauthorized individuals.
3. Conclusion
Based on the discussion from the discussion, it could be concluded that the moral and
ethical responsibility would be of a crucial factor for the programmers. This would help them in
designing the product or service in a proper manner that would be able to suit according to the
needs of the customers or the users of the software systems. There are different kinds of
responsibilities and duties for the computer programmer. The various responsibilities for the

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computer programmer would be able to control the various kinds of issues that would be raised
based on the designing processes of the software. Ensuring the good form of computer software
specification would be helpful for the different computer systems. Specifying the good form of
software is a major task for the computer programmers. Ethical and moral considerations should
be adopted by the computer programmers that are previously defined by the codes of ethics. The
moral responsibility would be able to serve as a guide for the programmers in order to fulfil the
proper specification of the software. Hence, there would be a massive need to specify the
properness of the software that would be able to meet according to the needs of the customer.

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4. References
Barzel, R. and Barr, A.H., 2013. Physically-based modeling for computer graphics: a structured
approach. Morgan Kaufmann.
Berreby, F., Bourgne, G. and Ganascia, J.G., 2015, November. Modelling moral reasoning and
ethical responsibility with logic programming. In Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence,
and Reasoning (pp. 532-548). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Fenton, N. and Bieman, J., 2014. Software metrics: a rigorous and practical approach. CRC
press.
Gotterbarn, D., 2017. The use and abuse of computer ethics. In Computer Ethics (pp. 57-62).
Routledge.
Jorgensen, P.C., 2013. Software testing: a craftsman's approach. Auerbach Publications.
Lurie, Y. and Mark, S., 2016. Professional ethics of software engineers: An ethical
framework. Science and engineering ethics, 22(2), pp.417-434.
Mittelstadt, B.D., Allo, P., Taddeo, M., Wachter, S. and Floridi, L., 2016. The ethics of
algorithms: Mapping the debate. Big Data & Society, 3(2), p.2053951716679679.
Weizenbaum, J., 2017. On the impact of the computer on society: How does one insult a
machine?. In Computer Ethics(pp. 25-30). Routledge.