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Software is the only discipline that exclusively creates practical results via ideas. In excavation, you can see the dirt and rocks, and say "This terrain is d
by douglaswlance 8y ago
Software is the only discipline that exclusively creates practical results via ideas.
In excavation, you can see the dirt and rocks, and say "This terrain is different than we expected." and someone else can see the same terrain and say, "You are correct. Our assumptions were wrong."
In software, you can't show anyone that the situation is different than your assumptions, because the assumptions themselves are the material that you're working with. Building software is the process of turning assumptions into results.
- alex_anglin 8y ago>>Software is the only discipline that exclusively creates practical results via ideas. You're going a bit far there. How about writing, design, art, etc...? There are plenty of creative industries out there.
- humanrebar 8y agoIn those examples, a rush job is qualitatively worse, not something completely useless. Half finished tunnels, bridges, and (usually) programs provide basically no value.
- nautilus12 8y agoThats the point, software is a creative endeavor with more in common with those fields. Does anyone wonder why the novelist or the artist is taking too long. Why do they get that freedom but not in software?
- alex_anglin 8y agoProbably because, by and large, they work for themselves and not as often in teams.
- douglaswlance 8y agoWriting, design, art, and other creative disciplines generate products. They do not create results, by which I mean, software itself generates results. You can write a book, but the book doesn't do anything. A person can read it, but the book doesn't generate results.