Wednesday 13 April 2011

Definition of Engineering

One of the best definitions of Engineering that I have come across. It was in 'Geekonomics'(2008) which is a book about the real cost of insecure software and how badly built most commercial software is today. I used Irfanview with the OCR plugin to scan and convert it to text.

One of Skill in the Art To design and build an Interstate requires engineers-lots of them. Engineers do not spontaneously generate, however. Engineers must be educated and trained, ridding them of the bad habits that come from ignorance, misunderstanding, and the foibles of the craftsmen that preceded them. As such, engineering is not an art, though it can be considered by some to be an artful science, embracing nature's complexity, yet remaining able to "simplify to nature in its essence.'' On the whole, however, engineering is about systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles in the design, construction, and pursuit of practical ends such as buildings, bridges, machines, and processes. Engineering, and in particular engineers, must conform to certain requirements that craftsmen and artisans might at times conveniently disregard. Moreover, those who wish to call themselves professional engineers must graduate from accredited universities and be formally licensed and registered in their skill. In this context, the career path associated with software construction challenges the notion that "software engineering" is true to its name. In fact, software engineering-though perceived as a modern skill-remains firmly entrenched in the craftsmen's discipline, much akin to blacksmiths and textile weavers of the pre-industrial era whose handcrafted items could certainly be considered elegant constructions but could not necessarily be considered feats of systematic engineering. As cherished as the output of craftsmanship may be, the shortfall of the craftsman's discipline is that product quality is largely dependent on the craftsman's talent and expertise-not to mention that a craftsman's work is very, very expensive. Nor is it consistently repeatable. Like any handmade item, software applications that perform similar functions might be entirely unique in design and implementation. The similarities between a hand-woven basket purchased from Wal-Mart and the software residing in the bowels of a financial institution are unsettling. In short, the U.S. Interstate and the automobiles that travel upon it were not built by craftsmen, nor could they be. Armies of craftsmen certainly built the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China, but these are considered World Wonders largely because they were not repeatable.