Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!seismo!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!cadre!pitt!darth!gary
From: gary@darth.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Software Engineering vs. Computer Science
Message-ID: <193@darth.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Mar-87 10:09:01 EST
Article-I.D.: darth.193
Posted: Fri Mar 27 10:09:01 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Mar-87 14:27:47 EST
Organization: Darth Software, Allison Park, Pa. 15101
Lines: 47
Summary: The distinction without a difference

I am a recent subscriber to comp.edu, but have read many articles in which
the terms Software Engineering and Computer Science are used almost inter-
changably.

There seems, in general, to be a lack of understanding of what Software
Engineering actually is.  If you've written a game for an Atari, are you
a Software Engineer?  If you've written an rule-based simulation for a
Symbolics, are you a Software Engineer?

There are three separate issues at hand when we talk about the creation
and understanding of Software:

	1. Programming.  I view this as the simple ability to understand
	   and produce logical sequences of imperatives which tell a
	   computer what to do.  There are programmers in the fifth
	   grade, but probably few software engineers.

	2. Computer Science.  Computer Science attempts to understand and
	   define the process of computing.  Its tools are observation and
	   experimental investigation.

	3. Software Engineering.  This is the process of applying the
	   principles of automation to practical ends.  The goal is to
	   produce efficient and economical systems using technology
	   which is both reliable and predictable.

Are educators working to produce curricula which focus on CS and SE as
distinct areas of study?  Very few of my co-workers have an understanding 
of Software Engineering which was not gained from experience.  In fact,
to become good engineers, many people must unlearn principles taught to
them in CS courses.  Producing large, complex software systems is a different
kind of problem than writing a 300 line program.  Data abstraction is an
interesting twist in a small program, but essential in a large system.

My point of all of this is focus.  Students who wish to unravel the secrets
of computing (and probably the mind as well) are rarely satisfied with the
engineering of software.  Those interested in practical solutions to real
problems are rarely interested in the science of computing.  Many software
people lack an understanding of this simple duality.

Comments and flames are welcome on these issues.  Are these problems
being solved?  Are they solved already and am I not-so-blissfully
ignorant?


Gary Wisniewski
uucp: {allegra,bellcore,cadre}!pitt!darth!gary