Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!eos!ames!xanth!mcnc!ece-csc!ncrcae!ncrlnk!ncrwic!Intrepid!palexand From: palexand@Intrepid.ece.ukans.edu (Perry Alexander) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Software Eng. vs Computer Sci. Message-ID: <297@Intrepid.ece.ukans.edu> Date: 19 Feb 89 00:30:08 GMT Reply-To: palexand@intrepid.UUCP (Perry Alexander) Organization: The University of Kansas Lines: 59 A great deal of discussion is being dedicated lately to the desirability of a BS or MS in Software Engineering. While watching, I have discovered that there seems to be a great many opinions of what the differences are. I was taught that Computer Science is to Software Engineering what Physics is to a more traditional engineering discipline. Although the distinction is fuzzy, and oversimplified, the math/cs folks do the pure science and the software engineers apply that to current problems. In fact, at the school I attend now, Software Engineering is a part of the Computer Engineering degree, granted by the school of engineering, rather than a part of the Computer Science degree granted by college of liberal arts. In my undergraduate CS education, I learned 2 imperitive laguages (only 1 was required) and 1 functional language. I got the normal dose of theory of computing, data structures, structured programming, compiler theory, formal language theory, etc. Not word one about software lifecycle models, formal design methods, specification, testing,... all those things we attribute to software engineering. When I worked my first industry job, I realized that no one had ever tested a single line of code that I wrote. Before you start flaming on my undergraduate education, please be aware that the department from which I graduated was, at that time, highly acclaimed. I use and appreciate what I was taught there, but it was not software engineering. Obviously, there is a need for somftware engineering to be taught. The big question is should it be a seperate entity from CS. If not, then why do we have schools of engineering for other branches of engineering. Why don't we just have specialized physics degrees? The only good argument I have heard here is that software engineering is not an old enough discipline yet. I will argue that both degrees are equally valuable, much as an Electrical Engineering degree is as valuable as a Physics degree. It seems to be more a matter of specialty. Someone who is to spend his/her professional career studying formal language theory has little to gain from an in-depth software engineering course, however someone who is to design software has little to gain from an in-depth study of formal languages. (I will *not* argue that a basic knowledge of both is not useful to both parties.) Although an undergraduate degree in physics will begin much the same as an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, they diverge somewhere around the end of the sophomore year. I would propose that a CS degree and a software engineering degree will behave much the same. As I am very interested in computer engineering/science curriculum, I would appreciate any experiences/comments that you might have. - Perry =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Perry Alexander | ARPANET : alexander@space-tech.arpa Systems Programmer | BITNET : palexander@UKANVAX The University of Kansas | CSNET : alexander%coeds@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Center for Research/TISL | palexander@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu 2291 Irving Hill Dr. | Lawrence, KS. 66045 | "No matter where you go, there you are" (913)-864-7753 | - Buckaroo Bonzai -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-