6 ms·
Good god, please stop this misguided snarkiness. Comparing software engineering (or 99.99% of EE, ME, CE, etc) to the web telescope, then haughtily using that
by eagsalazar2 5y ago
Good god, please stop this misguided snarkiness. Comparing software engineering (or 99.99% of EE, ME, CE, etc) to the web telescope, then haughtily using that comparison as a way to dismiss the entire industry as not really being engineering at all is just ridiculous. I have spent almost 10 years as an EE and another 12 as software engineer and the idea that the level of rigor in EE or ME is any higher than high caliber software teams is just laughable. CI? Detailed process and best practices for review, readability, reusability, testability, security... I won't even go on, most EE teams I've encountered are laughable on all those fronts, all practices that are very common in software engineering. If you think otherwise I highly doubt you have real-world exposure to the processes generally followed by those other disciplines. I do, FYI they are just regular jackasses like all of us :)
Also, guess what? The web telescope has a ton of software on it. I suppose that is just "software engineering"? (in quotes, har har)
Look, there are terrible teams doing terrible or very simplistic software work. The same is true in all engineering disciplines and it is of course true that in all engineering disciplines (including software) there are also teams operating with a high degree of passion and rigor in creating very complex things. So yeah, please stop with these silly and really pretty insulting comments.
- eagsalazar2 5y agoAlso, consider that a half-way complex piece of software (from our outside POV) is enormously more complex than your average IC, vehicle (if you exclude the mountain of software controlling it), or general "engineering" project in other disciplines. Obviously that isn't always true (CPUs, James Web telescope, for example are also enormously complex) but most seemingly simple things you use every day (random example: Grubhub) are massively complicated to build, evolve, and keep running each day. Dismissing them as not real engineering is really ignorant and rude. The ME and EE associated with creating new product like the Nest Thermostat (for example) are, by comparison with something like Grubhub, of trivial engineering complexity (although still very respectable engineering efforts)
- dmitriid 5y ago> seemingly simple things you use every day (random example: Grubhub) are massively complicated to build, evolve, and keep running each day What exactly is massively complicated about a predatory aggregator site compared to a vehicle?
- eagsalazar2 5y agoWhat does their predatory nature have to do with complexity?
- dmitriid 5y agoRemove predatory, keep the question.
- eagsalazar2 5y agoLook past trees, see forest. Let go of your desire to shit on developers and the cheap satisfaction you get from doing so.
- dmitriid 5y ago> Look past trees, see forest. I have. > Let go of your desire to shit on developers So you're a psychic now, and you read into people's desires by looking at HN posts? The question remains. But it's clear you can't answer it without ad hominem.
- eagsalazar2 5y agoYou are asking a silly question. Jeeze, maybe it isn't the best comparison, maybe I should have been more specific. The point you are asking about in no way affects my larger point so who cares. You harping on it is just weird.
- 5y ago