Oh, rest assured it is. Software engineering is alive and well in fields that demand up-front reliability -- avionics, medical equipment, reactor control system

Oh, rest assured it is. Software engineering is alive and well in fields that demand up-front reliability -- avionics, medical equipment, reactor control systems, and so on. In university, I did a co-op job with a civil avionics shop where I learned all about DO-178B, the standard by which avionics software is certified. DO-178B Level A-certified is top-quality and highly reliable. I feel safe flying on planes after working in that industry. It's a rigourous process, and software that emerges from it basically never fails. But it's an expensive and slow process to develop software this way, and it's prone to failure from any number of reasons. Requirements and technology change, and must be known up-front. Capital can run dry. It's only worthwhile developing software this way when absolutely necessary, when half-working software is dangerous and could kill someone.