Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rocksanne!andresen
From: andresen@rocksanne.UUCP (Kevin Andresen)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Software Engineering & Ada
Keywords: Ada, Mesa, BA degrees
Message-ID: <677@rocksanne.UUCP>
Date: 15 Feb 89 20:09:06 GMT
References: <69504@ti-csl.csc.ti.com> <4390@hubcap.UUCP>
Organization: Xerox: Webster Research Center, Rochester, NY
Lines: 37

In article <4390@hubcap.UUCP> wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu writes:
>From myjak@home.csc.ti.com (Michael Myjak):
>> 
>> Bill then goes on to make an incorrect statement:
>>>   It DOES cover: [...]
>>>   Modern Programming Language Features (Ada) ...
>> 
>> This is incorrect because Software Engineering is independent of, and
>> in no way related to a *particular* language, its features, or its
>> associated environment. While it is true that some languages lend
>> themselves to software engineering techniques better than other
>> languages do, software engineering and ADA are mutually exclusive.
>    ...
>    And what features are they discussing?  Why, "Type checking rules, 
>    separate compilation, user-defined data types, data abstraction, 
>    generics, scope rules, exception handling, and concurrency mechanisms 
>    are discussed in the following sections."  Can you guess which language 
>    reference manual that was lifted straight out of?   

Sounds like Mesa!

(Add a 1/2-smiley if you choose...)  The point being that Michael's statement
is correct:  although Ada is a fine embodiment of many of the principles of
software engineering, it is not the only one, nor is it the ideal one, and it
is a mistake to tie the study of an engineering area to a particular
implementation.  (One would not teach EE using only the Z80 as an example, 
nor the [insert-your-favorite-"state-of-the-art"-chip-here]) 

To add further fuel to the fire, where does the BACS degree fit in?  In 
<2104@ndsuvax.UUCP>, Ken Magel suggests that software engineers should be
taught "knowledge which allows one to see how current practice is and will
be changing and to understand and relate those changes to current practice."
I would claim that a liberal-arts education is superior to pure computer
science *or* electrical engineering in addressing this type of knowledge.
Comments?

--Kevin Andresen [andresen.wbst@xerox.com]