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From: gm@mitisft.Convergent.COM (G.M. Harding)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Texts on fundamentals of programming/computer science
Keywords: reality, theory, engineering
Message-ID: <601@mitisft.Convergent.COM>
Date: 31 Mar 89 18:52:09 GMT
Organization: Convergent Technologies, San Jose, CA
Lines: 48


Phil Windley writes:

> That said, I think you're missing the point.  You seem to think that you
> can be a good programmer without a funcdamental understanding of what's
> going on.  This is a serious mistake.

     I know it was a typo, Phil, but it was a very serendipitous one.
Indeed, one cannot be a good programmer without a func()damental
understanding of what's going on.

     More seriously, your main point is well taken. The best programmers
I know are well-rounded human beings. I've always taken a certain amount
of pride in the fact that I don't have a BS or MS; rather, I have a BA
(history). One of the best software engineers I ever knew had a BA and
an MA (music).

     We often miss the point of what an engineer really is. An engineer,
in any discipline, is one whose job consists of translating theory into
reality. Hence, first and foremost, engineers are people well-grounded
in reality. In the software engineering discipline, that implies a deep,
almost intuitive understanding of, or "feel" for, how computing machines
work.

     Second only to being well-grounded in reality, however, software
engineers ought to understand basic theories. This includes algorithm
theory, of course, but in a broader sense it encompasses all branches
of human knowledge: Science, mathematics, commerce, even the much-
maligned liberal arts.

     This explains my conviction of long standing that C is the ideal
engineering language. Most other languages place their emphasis on the
latest algorithmic nicety to come out of academia. That's putting the
cart before the horse. We are engineers, not academicians or theore-
ticians. Our job is to MAKE IT WORK, and that means that our first
emphasis must be on the machines that will do the work.

     Since, however, we must translate theories from all walks of life
into computing models, it behooves us to understand theories of many
different types, if only so that we can tell our clients when they're
dreaming.

GMH
-- 
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                  * All of your opinions are sound. *
                  *     That's all--just sound.     *
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