I like the (overlapping) definition of “software engineering” from Titus Winters (https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book) and

I like the (overlapping) definition of “software engineering” from Titus Winters (https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book) and Russ Cox (https://research.swtch.com/vgo-eng https://research.swtch.com/vgo-eng) respectively, that it is “programming integrated over time” and that “Software engineering is what happens to programming when you add time and other programmers”. In that sense, TAOCP is at something like the extreme of computer programming that is not software engineering: it's about programs for specific problems (don't need to be continuously changed with time), and by a programmer who works alone, does not involve other programmers or reuse their code/libraries.