Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!rutgers!mtune!mtunx!lzaz!lznv!psc
From: psc@lznv.ATT.COM (Programmers against Sleepy Computing)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Towards a definition of software engineering
Message-ID: <1321@lznv.ATT.COM>
Date: 16 Mar 88 22:38:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T
Lines: 32
Keywords: definition

< If you lined all the news readers up end-to-end, they'd be easier to shoot. >

I was reading TO ENGINEER IS HUMAN (Henry Petroski, St. Martin's Press,
1985; ISBN 0-312-80680-9), and came across the following definition of
structural engineering from THE STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, "the official
journal of the British Institution of Structural Engineers":

> Structural engineering is the science and art of designing and
> making, with economy and elegance, buildings, bridges, frameworks,
> and other similar structures so that they can safely resist the
> forces to which they may be subjected.

Petroski spends a page and a half admiring the language of this
definition.  My immediate reaction was to try and reword it:

Software engineering is the science and art of designing and making,
with economy and elegance, computer programs, so that they can safely
fulfill the requirements of their users, and safely resist the errors
to which the programs may be subjected.

Since the function of a given piece of software is less obvious than
the function of a given bridge, I thought it was important to say
something about requirements.  Note the implication of "appropriate"
["their"] users; a complete novice is not necessarily the appropriate
user of AutoCAD, nor is MacPaint the right tool for an experienced
professional draftsperson.

Comments?

-Paul S. R. Chisholm, {ihnp4,cbosgd,allegra,rutgers}!mtune!lznv!psc
AT&T Mail !psrchisholm, Internet psc@lznv.att.com
Founding member, Programmers against Sleepy Computizzzzzzz