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From: cole@farmhand.rtp.dg.com (Bill Cole)
Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Documenting OO Systems
Message-ID: <1991Apr16.124522.16592@dg-rtp.dg.com>
Date: 16 Apr 91 12:45:22 GMT
References: <jls.670709095@rutabaga> <3201:Apr705:40:4591@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <STEVE.91Apr15150739@diana.Advansoft.COM>
Sender: cole@farmhand (Bill Cole)
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 30

Steve Savitzky writes: 
|>      Every working definition of ``engineering'' appears to exclude computer
|>      science.
|>  
|> I think Knuth was absolutely right when he called his book "The Art of
|> Computer Programming".  It's possible to treat software as a product
|> of engineering only when it's embedded in a non-interactive system.
|> As soon as the software has a user interface, artistic considerations
|> take over.
|>

I'd extend that to any user interface -- including reports.  Someone will
spend time (maybe hours) with the reports we generate and 'readability'
is a definite factor in how we format and produce the report.

Programming is a creative endeavor at some level.  We have to devise
ways to overcome obstacles placed in our paths by an EE or another
programmer.  Many times, the solution to a problem is nothing short of
the 'eureka' moment, that golden moment of insight that brings an
unexpected fix to a difficult problem.  If we were strictly engineers,
we could down a catalog of routines and, by cleverly sticking them
together, build a program.  Each programmer has a catalog of routines
they've either learned or built, it's true, and you could argue that
this constitutes a form of engineering catalog that EEs or CEs use to 
build computers or buildings.  The difference is that programmers are
tasked to build new components if they can't find one in the own catalog
of program components.  How many CEs build bridges out of self-designed
components?  

The views expressed here are opinions formulated for and by myself,
/Bill