The document discusses professional ethics, particularly in the context of software engineering, emphasizing the importance of ethical guidelines in decision-making and behavior. It outlines various ethical principles, including honesty, privacy protection, and responsibility, that software developers are expected to follow to avoid harm and ensure the integrity of programming practices. Additionally, it highlights the influence of cultural and societal norms on ethical standards and the continuous need for developers to enhance their skills in creating safe and reliable software.

1. Professional Ethics
Usman Liaqat
Roll No. 14743
BS(Software Engineering)
Smester:6th (M)
Government College University
Faisalabad

2. Ethics:
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that
involves systematizing, defending, and recommending
concepts of right and wrong conduct.
These are the rules or standards governing the conduct by
which I live my life and make all my decisions.
Ethics in Islam:
The Quran is replete with clear messages pertaining to
ethics (akhlaq), the standards of behavior that God
expects mankind to adopt because He has sent him to
this world as His vicegerent. These cover all aspects of
truthfulness, honesty, kindness, integrity (that includes
being consistent in word and deed), meeting
commitments and sincerity. The best example of ethics is
in the life of the Prophet himself. When Hazrat Aisha was
once asked about the personality of her husband, she
had replied: “he was a reflection of the Quran itself”.

3. Examples of Ethics in Islam:
Ethics may be changed in a country according to
conditions.
Corruption and bribery may very well be the order of the
day, and so could the consumption of drugs, and they
may be declared legal. But they could never be morally
right in Islam.
Ethics are build from society. Every society has different
Ethics, Some Ethics are changed with respect to time but
some Ethics are same as above.
Professional Ethics:
Professional Ethics is defined as the personal and
corporate rules that govern behavior within the context of
a particular professions.

4. Importance:
Ethics concern an individual's moral judgments about
right and wrong. Decisions taken within an organization
may be made by individuals or groups, but whoever
makes them will be influenced by the culture of the
company. ... Ethical behavior and corporate social
responsibility can bring significant benefits to a business.
Every profession has different Ethics. Same as Software
Engineering concern different types of Ethics which is
known as “Programing Ethical Guidelines”.
Programing Ethics:
The ethical guidelines that developers are expected to
follow and apply when writing programming code (also
called source code), and when they are part of a
programmer-customer or employee-employer
relationship.

5. Programming Ethical Guidelines:
From the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (ACM):
 Avoid harm to others.
Computer systems have an indirect impact on third parties.
They can cause loss of information and resources that might
result severely harmful for users, the general public, or
employers. Therefore, software developers should minimize the
risk of harming others due to coding errors, or security issues,
by following standards to design and test systems (Code of
Ethics and Professional Conduct).
Be honest and trustworthy.
This principle encourages programmers to be honest and
aware of their limitations in knowledge and education when
writing computer systems . if a programmer knows there is
something wrong with a computer system, he should report it
immediately to avoid undesirable consequences.

6. Respect the privacy of others:
Computer systems are wrongly used by some people to
violate the privacy of others. Software developers should
write programs that can protect users’ private information
and that can avoid other undesired people to have
unauthorized access to it.
Honor confidentiality:
Unless required by law or any other ethical guideline, a
programmer must keep secret any additional information
related to his or her employer that arises from working in
a project.

7. From Software Engineering Code of Ethics and
Professional Practice (IEEE, ACM):
 Accept full responsibility for their own work:
If a program presents errors, the software developer
should accept full responsibility for his or her work, and
should work on revising, correcting, modifying,
and testing it.
 Approve software only if they have a well-
founded belief it is safe and meets
specifications:
Programmers cannot assume that a system is ready to
use only because it performs the tasks needed. If
programs are not safe, users are unprotected from
hackers that could steal important information or money.

8. Ensure adequate testing, debugging and
review of software:
Programmers should perform the appropriate tests to the
pieces of software they work with, and should check for
errors and system security holes to make sure that the
programs are well implemented.
Improve their ability to create safe, reliable,
and useful quality software:
Since technology advances faster year by year, and so
does virtual criminality, the need of well-structured and
designed programs is increasing. Programmers should
“further their knowledge of developments in the analysis,
specification, design, development, maintenance, and
testing software and related documents”.