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I think doing the engineering design of structures and machines (buildings, bridges, engines, etc.) is still a creative endeavor after many hundreds of years, a
by sanderjd 5y ago
I think doing the engineering design of structures and machines (buildings, bridges, engines, etc.) is still a creative endeavor after many hundreds of years, and I think this is the closest analogue to what software engineers do. The difference is that once we have the blueprints drawn (ie. the code written), a computer can just execute them rather than requiring a lot more material and labor inputs. Program execution is the right analogue to manufacturing, not program creation.
- notJim 5y agoI agree with this, but those things have also moved from essentially being artisanal to being more formalized and scientific. I don't think we're at that point in software engineering.
- sanderjd 5y agoWe're definitely earlier in the timeline with software engineering, but I personally think it seems like structural and mechanical engineering designs are a lot more "artisanal" than is the general conception. Certainly the primitives involved are very well understand scientifically (and this is where we're definitely a long way behind them), but the specific combinations of those primitives strike me as remaining very bespoke and creative, as does the process for creating the designs. All of this looks familiar to me, just further down the maturity timeline.