We present the didactic bases for a different kind of text book on Software Engineering - one that is based on semiotics, proper description principles, informal narrations and formal specifications, on phase, stage and stepwise development from developing understandings of the domain, via requirements to software design. Each of the concepts: Semiotics, description, documents, abstraction & modelling, domains, requirements and software design, are covered systematically while enunciating a number of method principles for selecting and applying techniques and tools for the effcient construction of efficient software. The proposed textbook presents many, what are believed to be novel development concepts: Domain engineering with its emphasis on domain attributes, stake{holder perspectives and domain facets (intrinsics, support technologies, management & organization, rules & regulation, human behaviour, etc.), requirements engineering with its decomposition into domain requirements (featuring such techniques as projection, instantiation, extension and initialization), interface requirements and machine requirements, etc.

software engineering, formal methods