Re:The Atlantic Was Wrong. Software Engineers Do Exist
by leoedin on Monday November 09, 2015 @11:09AM
(#10533800)
I'm not sure that your definition works for all types of engineers. Certainly it is unlikely that a civil engineer or aerospace engineer will physically build a building or aircraft, but in many disciplines there is a lot of prototyping and iterative hands on design work being done by people with engineering degrees.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:The Atlantic Was Wrong. Software Engineers Do Exist
by mannykannot on Monday November 09, 2015 @01:05PM
(#10534618)
I think whether prototyping is engineering or not depends on the degree to which it is directed towards answering specific questions, or with a reasonable (reasonable as in based on rational arguments) expectation of working. Writing something in the hope that it can eventually be made to work is not engineering (these are, of course, points on a continuum, not the horns of a dichotomy.)
Re:The Atlantic Was Wrong. Software Engineers Do Exist
by walshemj on Monday November 09, 2015 @07:24PM
(#10536819)
Well engineering RnD is done that way ie you run experiments - what do you think NASA Boeing Etc have those windtunnels for.
Re:The Atlantic Was Wrong. Software Engineers Do Exist
by mannykannot on Thursday November 12, 2015 @10:59AM
(#10553908)
>what do you think NASA Boeing Etc have those windtunnels for.
To answer specific questions. Time in a wind tunnel is very expensive, and so is the preparation of the models. They are not groping around in the dark for a solution to an ill-defined problem.