Hello Bruno,

On 31/10/2010 05:35, BCS wrote:

Hello Bruno,

Which degree did 'Software engineers' take then?

You know, that's one thing that kinda irks me: Why is it called
'Software engineers' when I've never seen engineering taught in a CS
course (not to be confused with real "computer engineering" courses
that are a lot more like EE than CS).

What are you referring to when you say "called 'Software engineers'" ?
The people who write software, or the college degrees/programs? I
didn't quite get it.


I've never seen the details of a software engineering program so I can't say much on that, but my current job title is software engineer and I know *I'm* not doing engineering.

The most direct example of this I know
of is in "The Pragmatic Programmer": Item 18 is "estimate to avoid
surprises" and then goes on to describe how to do that. Well, if
programming were taught as an engineering discipline, that would be a
pointless (if not insulting) comment because what it is advocating is
so
fundamental to engineering that it goes without saying.

What do you mean "if programming were taught as an engineering
discipline" ?

I'm saying that programming is *not* taught or practiced as an engineering discipline (Ok, maybe the DOD, DOE and NASA do). Furthermore, I'm presenting the fact that "item 18" needs stating as evidence supported to support my assertion and supporting that with the assertion that any practitioner of an engineering discipline wouldn't need to be told about "item 18".

To be totally clear, I'm not saying that software development should be done as an engineering process, but that the standard practices (and job title) of today shouldn't claim to be engineering.


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