James G. Sack (jim) wrote:
/Software Engineering/ is *not really* engineering
and
/Computer Science/ is *not really* science
I kinda agree with these statements. However, I would argue slightly
differently:
"Computer science" is math rather than science. That does *not* weaken
its position in my opinion, though.
"Software engineering", thus, is applied math.
The problem I have with calling computer science a "science" is the
whole lack of experiment at the foundation. You can run experiments in
CS, but the foundations are not experimental.
"Software engineering" is fuzzier. It is, at its core, applied math.
However, someone could actually set down a "human factors" baseline that
would move it closer to "industrial engineering".
Of course, the engineers tend to regard "industrial engineering" as
"imaginary engineering" for exactly that kind of human factors fuzziness.
-a
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