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From: rh@smds.UUCP (Richard Harter)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Art vs. Engineering
Summary: Tools and engineering
Message-ID: <475@smds.UUCP>
Date: 18 May 91 06:48:49 GMT
References: <25170@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> <1312@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM> <460@smds.UUCP> <4366@meaddata.meaddata.com>
Organization: SMDS Inc., Concord, MA
Lines: 33

In article <4366@meaddata.meaddata.com>, dedek@meaddata.com (Mike Dedek) writes:
> In article <460@smds.UUCP>, rh@smds.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
> |> In article <1312@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>, chrisp@regenmeister.EBay.Sun.COM (Chris Prael) writes:

> |> > C is great engineering and great art.
> |> Thanks for a good laugh.  C is to great engineering what doggerel is to
> |> poetry.

Mike discusses this at some length, making the distinction between tools
and the things that they are built with.  He draws analogies with building
with concrete and sticks and such.  His general point, which is well taken,
is that one can do good software engineering even when working with poor
tools.

However he makes what I would consider to be a fundamental error in
excluding tools and languages from the domain of engineering.  Tools and
languages are objects of design and specification just as much as specific
programs and systems are.  Indeed, good engineering of tools and languages
is critical simply because they are continually reused.

I will concede that my comments about C were snide (but accurate :-)).
I do not concede that it is irrelevant to talk about the engineering
or artistic quality of a language.

> Engineers should think before they work.  They should also *think*
> before they post :-)

Indeed.  May your ears hear the wisdom of your mouth.  :-)
-- 
Richard Harter, Software Maintenance and Development Systems, Inc.
Net address: jjmhome!smds!rh Phone: 508-369-7398 
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742
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