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From: dhoag@netcom.com (David Hoag)
Subject: Re: Theory and Practice [was: Beware of "C" Hackers -- A rebuttal to ...]
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Date: Sat, 8 Jul 1995 12:20:41 GMT
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Kamal Hathi (khathi@ee.net) wrote:


: Software *Engineering* unfortunately is a gross misnomer. I am an 
: Electrical Engineer by education (undergraduate) and also have 
: training (post-graduate education and other) and experience as a
: "Software Engineer". One thing I can categorically state is that 
: developing software and the education in that field is closer to
: art or language (as in english) than Engineering. Engineering is
: an *exact science*, with a certain degree of inexact creative
: license thrown in for good measure. Software Engineering is 
: mostly a set of inexact and flexible *techniques* with some 
: exactness thrown in.

Software is far from an exact science and is in many way an art.  
However, I do believe that the basic problem solving skills that all 
engineers develop readily apply to developing software.

: Software may be the "most complex man-made systems", however, the
: *science* of Software Engineering may also be the most non-scientific 
: and inexact of all Engineering. Till this discipline matures (say 100 
: years or so), it will continue to be a nascent science and a mature
: art.

In fact this is probably one of the biggest criticisms of software 
today.  To much of it is left up to the artistic whims of the 
programmer.  Little effort is spent to actually use a disciplined 
approach to designing and developing software.  There are many known 
techniques that will produce high quality software, but yet very few 
'software engineers' employ them.


Dave
-- 
David Hoag         k 
dhoag@netcom.com
