5 ms·

When someone asks you what software engineering is, this is software engineering.

worewood 5y ago
This is programming/hacking. Software engineering is more related to the tools and processes an used to build and maintain software.
- gibolt 5y ago
  This is very much engineering, discoving an extremely effective solution based on system knowledge.
  - rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
    Engineering would be how you test it, how you document it, how you maintain it, how you deploy it. Implementing other peoples algorithms is just programming/coding.
    - sennight 5y ago
      The problem with that redefinition is that you spontaneously transform into an engineer when working on your own personal library, but as soon as you pull in a single dependency, or manually punch in some old school approximation algorithm, you are "just" some dirty good for nothing code janitor. Imagine somebody tasked with designing a bridge abandoning their engineering mindset because they used somebody else's drafting table. Also, that engineer better be "just" implementing other peoples algorithms on that bridge design - I'm not interested in driving across some 10Xer's suspension bridge.
  - Quarrel 5y ago
    I really love the totally varied definitions in this thread. THIS pretty much sums up so much of CS.
  - taneq 5y ago
    One of the biggest eye-openers to me once I hit "the real world" was how many wildly different interpretations of the word "engineering" there are. At one end of the scale you have people who equate it entirely with methodology and process, and at the other you have people who equate it with building a high performance system.
- dahfizz 5y ago
  I consider tools and processes more like being a code mechanic. A construction worker is familiar with construction tools and processes. A civil engineer does the math and design work to "program" a building.
saurik 5y ago
FWIW, I would probably call this "applied mathematics"; "software engineering" is a discipline that studies how to create software.
- jhgb 5y ago
  > FWIW, I would probably call this "applied mathematics" You mean the thing we call "computer science" (or "mathematical informatics" in some non-English-speaking countries)?

This is programming/hacking. Software engineering is more related to the tools and processes an used to build and maintain software.

gibolt 5y ago
This is very much engineering, discoving an extremely effective solution based on system knowledge.
- rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
  Engineering would be how you test it, how you document it, how you maintain it, how you deploy it. Implementing other peoples algorithms is just programming/coding.
  - sennight 5y ago
    The problem with that redefinition is that you spontaneously transform into an engineer when working on your own personal library, but as soon as you pull in a single dependency, or manually punch in some old school approximation algorithm, you are "just" some dirty good for nothing code janitor. Imagine somebody tasked with designing a bridge abandoning their engineering mindset because they used somebody else's drafting table. Also, that engineer better be "just" implementing other peoples algorithms on that bridge design - I'm not interested in driving across some 10Xer's suspension bridge.
- Quarrel 5y ago
  I really love the totally varied definitions in this thread. THIS pretty much sums up so much of CS.
- taneq 5y ago
  One of the biggest eye-openers to me once I hit "the real world" was how many wildly different interpretations of the word "engineering" there are. At one end of the scale you have people who equate it entirely with methodology and process, and at the other you have people who equate it with building a high performance system.
dahfizz 5y ago
I consider tools and processes more like being a code mechanic. A construction worker is familiar with construction tools and processes. A civil engineer does the math and design work to "program" a building.

saurik 5y ago

FWIW, I would probably call this "applied mathematics"; "software engineering" is a discipline that studies how to create software.

jhgb 5y ago
> FWIW, I would probably call this "applied mathematics" You mean the thing we call "computer science" (or "mathematical informatics" in some non-English-speaking countries)?