Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rit!mjl
From: mjl@cs.rit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Component Specification (Was Re: software engineers)
Message-ID: <1122@cs.rit.edu>
Date: 22 May 89 12:50:49 GMT
References: <1736@internal.Apple.COM> <493@bnr-fos.UUCP> <1764@internal.Apple.COM> <495@bnr-fos.UUCP> <1275@novavax.UUCP>
Sender: news@cs.rit.edu
Reply-To: mjl@prague.UUCP (Michael Lutz)
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Lines: 25

In article <1275@novavax.UUCP> weiner@novavax.UUCP (Bob Weiner) writes:
>
>This is an egregious misstatement.  I know many, many electrical
>engineers who also write software and though they spec their hardware
>one way, they do a horrible job on their software specs (if they ever
>even write a single word).
>

Glad to see someone else noticed this.  While not universal, it has
been my experience that faced with a combined hardware/software
problem, many engineers from the traditional disciplines are very
professional in their approach to hardware, but then mutate into
"key-bashing, get it out the door" software developers.  Could it be
that they use software development to release their pent up desires to
hack around?  As more than one such "engineer" has said to me:  "after
all, it's only software."

Mike Lutz
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY   14623
rutgers!rochester!ritcv!mjl
Mike Lutz	Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY
UUCP:		{rutgers,cornell}!rochester!ritcv!mjl
CSNET:		mjl%rit@relay.cs.net
INTERNET:	mjl@cs.rit.edu