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Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers

posted by cmn32480 on Saturday November 07 2015, @11:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the but-it-makes-me-look-cool dept.

Zinho writes:

The Atlantic is running an article on the friction between the computing world and Professional Engineer societies. This discussion has been going on for a long time, and is meaningful to me personally - I quit a 10-year career as server administrator with 'engineer' in my job title when I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and have since earned my Professional Engineer license. In a world where most software comes with a disclaimer of liability due to defects, where would an ethical, civic-minded programmer even practice Professional Engineering? Angry Birds probably doesn't have any responsibility to the public safety, so there's little need there; on the other hand, Google's self-driving car program is a good candidate.

I'd love to welcome the programming profession into the circle of licensed Engineers, provided that the industry manages to agree on standards of quality and accountability. I don't see the methods (such as Agile) used by programmers as a significant obstacle, either; the programming motto of "move fast and break things" (which the article wrongly decries) is echoed in the motto "fail early, fail often" that is held by many Mech Eng R&D shops. I just fear that the halting problem will be solved before any such standards become widely accepted and implemented in the industry.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by scruffybeard on Saturday November 07 2015, @11:52AM

    by scruffybeard (533) on Saturday November 07 2015, @11:52AM (#259917)

    Here is more fuel for the fire:
    Kirk vs. Picard
    .NET vs Java
    Pi vs. Tau
    Discuss among yourselves.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @12:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @12:14PM (#259926)

    Kirk vs. Picard
    Janeway ftw!

    .NET vs Java
    Delphi ftw!

    Pi vs. Tau
    fuck greek, 💩 ftw!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @12:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @12:27PM (#259934)

    π > τ

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by McD on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:14PM

    by McD (540) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:14PM (#259978)

    You forgot "vi vs emacs", you insensitive clod!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:19PM (#259983)


      i
      i think you're forgetthing the best editor of them all!
      .
      w protip: it's ed
      56
      q

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:51PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:51PM (#259999) Journal
        M-x mock-dude-with-bronze^Wstone-club-brandished^Wembedded-in-arm^Wforehead
        M-x dump-verbiage-emacs-is-best

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @04:24PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @04:24PM (#260008)

          ?

    • (Score: 2) by Bill Evans on Sunday November 08 2015, @01:31AM

      by Bill Evans (1094) on Sunday November 08 2015, @01:31AM (#260189) Homepage

      elvis lives. Just sayin'.

    • (Score: 1) by marius on Sunday November 08 2015, @04:20PM

      by marius (3330) on Sunday November 08 2015, @04:20PM (#260382)

      I second that. vi vs emacs > .NET vs Java.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 16 2015, @03:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 16 2015, @03:26PM (#263968)

    Kirk vs. Picard

    Han Solo

    .NET vs Java

    Perl

    Pi vs. Tau

    All things are actually just ones and zeros. The Universe is binary. Something either is or isn't. All sets are arbitrary. Any division of the all to numbers greater or less than 1 only serves to create confusion as to the actual nature of the Universe.