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From: rick@tetrauk.UUCP (Rick Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.object
Subject: Re: Software "Engineers"
Message-ID: <1136@tetrauk.UUCP>
Date: 17 Apr 91 09:51:12 GMT
References: <3844@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP> <3056@cirrusl.UUCP>
Reply-To: rick@tetrauk.UUCP (Rick Jones)
Organization: Tetra Ltd., Maidenhead, UK
Lines: 24

In article <3056@cirrusl.UUCP> dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>
> [...]
>
>The science in computer science is mostly about correctness.  The
>engineering in software engineering is mostly about efficiency.
						     ^^^^^^^^^^
Who says?  I am trying to apply an "engineering" approach to producing business
software (which doesn't always get very stringent criteria attached to it).  My
main concern is reliability and general robustness;  efficiency cannot be
ignored, but it's not the prime issue.

In civil engineering, for example, the most important issue is that the bridge
doesn't collapse.  The equivalent to efficiency is using the minimum material,
but shaving safety margins is a dangerous game!

I would rather define computer science as dealing with correctness of behaviour
under predictable conditions.  Engineering is more about reasonable behaviour
under unpredictable conditions.
-- 
Rick Jones, Tetra Ltd.  Maidenhead, Berks, UK
rick@tetrauk.uucp

Any fool can provide a solution - the problem is to understand the problem