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Software engineering isn't math research. While I'm not against making it easier to formally prove correctness, at the same time I'm not sure why you think it's

Software engineering isn't math research. While I'm not against making it easier to formally prove correctness, at the same time I'm not sure why you think it's so important. We've been doing pretty well without it. How do you justify your certainty that we need it?

fsloth 9y ago
"How do you justify your certainty that we need it?" Not OP but all pre-scientific crafts from medicine to construction have benefited considerably of application of formal methods. I don't see why software engineering a should be different.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  How many doctors in the field are practicing formal methods these days beyond say statistics? Anyways, surely SE as a field benefits from formal methods like other fields, whether applied by specialists or in the field by practitioners we can debate, but hopefully we can all agree SE isn't defined as just applying formal methods, that there is a lot in development that will never go near a formal spec.
  - jolux 9y ago
    Doctors are required to have extensive knowledge of chemistry, physics, and biology before even beginning medical school. Those are all highly scientific fields with centuries of practice behind them, not to mention medicine itself which is nearly as old as people are.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      Yes, but computer scientists are required to take engineering physics also, as well as creative writing sometime. We are talking about the practice of medicine, and if you know any doctors, they aren't exactly very interested in math (they have a lot of other stuff to do!).
      - jolux 9y ago
        I'm not required to take any physics in my degree actually.
        seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        UW CSE requires first year engineer-level physics. I don't think that's unusual.
  - fsloth 9y ago
    "we can all agree SE isn't defined as just applying formal methods, that there is a lot in development that will never go near a formal spec." I've yet to see a field without artificial restraints that has abandoned need for human intuition and creativity.
- deleted 9y ago
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fsloth 9y ago

"How do you justify your certainty that we need it?" Not OP but all pre-scientific crafts from medicine to construction have benefited considerably of application of formal methods. I don't see why software engineering a should be different.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
How many doctors in the field are practicing formal methods these days beyond say statistics? Anyways, surely SE as a field benefits from formal methods like other fields, whether applied by specialists or in the field by practitioners we can debate, but hopefully we can all agree SE isn't defined as just applying formal methods, that there is a lot in development that will never go near a formal spec.
- jolux 9y ago
  Doctors are required to have extensive knowledge of chemistry, physics, and biology before even beginning medical school. Those are all highly scientific fields with centuries of practice behind them, not to mention medicine itself which is nearly as old as people are.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Yes, but computer scientists are required to take engineering physics also, as well as creative writing sometime. We are talking about the practice of medicine, and if you know any doctors, they aren't exactly very interested in math (they have a lot of other stuff to do!).
    - jolux 9y ago
      I'm not required to take any physics in my degree actually.
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        UW CSE requires first year engineer-level physics. I don't think that's unusual.
- fsloth 9y ago
  "we can all agree SE isn't defined as just applying formal methods, that there is a lot in development that will never go near a formal spec." I've yet to see a field without artificial restraints that has abandoned need for human intuition and creativity.
deleted 9y ago
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