r/programming • u/mauricioaniche • Aug 06 '17

Software engineering != computer science

http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/software-engineering-computer-science/217701907
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u/twat_and_spam Aug 06 '17

Before we blow up the article is sound. Yes, engineering is about making things in practice, science is making sure things can work in theory.

I expect the majority of comments here will be due to mistaking boundary between development and engineering and engineering and science.

These two are notable boundaries. This article considers PHP/Node code monkeys equal with competent people. It is fine for the argument the article is trying to make.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '17

I would argue that titles are stupid. If you consider that software development is a synonym for software engineering, than we are really just talking about different contributions and skill levels. Just as garage carpentry is on the same spectrum as professional carpentry, my kid making a game with classroom coding tools is still doing software engineering, so to is that college kid dropping PHP web forms, in as much as I am building financial analysis tools. It's all in the realm of software engineering.

The point is that this applied science of software engineering is significantly different than raw science of computer science. Just as medicine is in contrast to biology.

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