Software Technology: Software Engineering, And Engineering Of Software Development

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After reading the paper, “Software Engineering Programs Are Not Computer Science Programs”, it becomes apparent that the distinction between Software Engineering and Computer Science is not as clear-cut to outside observers. Society often blends the two subjects together, nothing that both programs are concerned only with computer science and programming language development. One way to understand the differences is to examine the words, primarily “Engineer” and “Scientist” when dealing with these two subjects. As the paper notes, Engineers are by nature, taught to apply both science and mathematics when designing products. Scientists, on the other hand, are solely taught the science and the methods needed to advance it. Overall, Software Engineers …show more content…

Society advocates that programming can be a form of art due to the aesthetic aspects when developing software. The argument exists here, where many argue that creative freedom isn’t a factor when dealing with science. On one hand, Software development has aspects of being a form of art for a variety of reasons. First, the problem is never defined in a concrete precise definition, which allows software designers to be flexible when dealing with the problem. Secondly, software is built with the notion of being user-friendly, which requires teams to build a type of interface which meets any unique needs of the user. Software development is also a type of science, where mathematical computation and data-oriented theories are necessary for development. Thus, Software Engineering is both an art and a form of science. However, we should also focus on the belief that Software Development is a form of Engineering. Today many consider “Software Engineering” to be a buzzword, confusing yet again as seen in the previous paper, to be only a type of Computer Science. Though, this isn’t the case at all. Software Engineers are tasked with using core practices to develop software products that have the quality assurance necessary for consumers. By treating Software Development as a form of engineering allows the development process to be clearer and with more defined goals. This allows developers to strike a balance when determining what are the “right” and “wrong” methods when designing products. Here, instead of focusing on the actual question of what to define Software Engineering to be, we instead should be focusing how to train individuals the correct methods and core concepts necessary for

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