Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!ogicse!uidaho!groucho.mrc.uidaho.edu!windley From: windley@cheetah.cs.uidaho.edu (Phil Windley/20000000) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Development vs Engineering Message-ID: Date: 12 Oct 90 17:56:05 GMT References: <27696@bellcore.bellcore.com> <2450009@hpfcmgw.HP.COM> Sender: @groucho Organization: University of Idaho, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 35 In-Reply-To: gt@hpfcmgw.HP.COM's message of 11 Oct 90 18:30:37 GMT In article <2450009@hpfcmgw.HP.COM> gt@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (George Tatge) writes: 3. I've saved the most important for last. My experience is that most software people cringe at the idea of becomming engineers. If it is truly the goal of someone or some group to turn software development into an engineering discipline then I suggest that it is at least a thirty year process and will require a radical change in the educational philosophies espoused at the universities where software people are indoctrinated. I have to agree with George here (I seem to remember disagreeing with him on something before ;-). Software engineering isn't engineering just because it has engineering in the name. (One could say the same for Computer Science, but that's a different soapbox.) Turing it into an engineering discipline is going to take LOTS of time. Consider that it can take 4 or 5 years for a single curriculum change to have an affect on graduates. And, of course, curriculum is just a tiny part of the whole thing. There's the whole registration thing which was discussed here a month or so ago. Most states (all states???) require engineers to be licensed to practice engineering (I'm using "practice" in the legal sense where it is defined by statute). We're a long way from being able to write a test which defines the discipline. Having said that, I believe that even this long process is inevitable. -- Phil Windley | windley@cheetah.cs.uidaho.edu Department of Computer Science | windley@ted.cs.uidaho.edu University of Idaho | Moscow, ID 83843 | Phone: (208) 885-6501