Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpf!warren
From: warren@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Montgomery)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Is it Art or is it Engineering
Summary: It's neither, it's management!
Keywords: Art Engineering Tolerances
Message-ID: <3676@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 Feb 88 14:41:18 GMT
References: <6879@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 29

The question of whether software art or software engineering more
correctly describes what software people do is age old.  While
software development has aspects of both to it, I'd like to suggest
that the dominant aspect for any large project is neither, it's
management of complexity.

In large systems, there are tasks that are clearly engineering. 
Picking data structures and algorithms to achieve a desired level of
fault tolerance is one that comes to mind, as is figuring out how to
cope with widely varying loads with acceptible performance.  

The enterprise that to me most clearly models a software development
is that of publishing a large multi-author document, such as a
newspaper, a magazine, or an encyclopaedia.  There is a large part
of the input that is creative in nature, both in determining overall
structure and in filling in the sections.  There are also many
specialized sub-problems, such as page layout, printing, production
of figures, obtaining the rights to material taken from other
sources, etc.  A lousy product will be produced if the basic
creative talent of the people who must supply it isn't up to the
task.  The best printing and layout in the world won't sell a
newspaper with poor writers.  Assuming that this is taken care of,
though, the dominant concern is managing the thousands of individual
tasks involved so that they come together when required to make a
product.

-- 

Warren Montgomery ihlpf!warren