News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why Is There So Much Crap Software in the World.

Re:Why Is There So Much Crap Software in the World by 908B64B197 on Friday December 18, 2020 @01:33PM (#25470283)
> Such incompetence would never fly in other engineering disciplines. We would never put up with bridges that are as buggy as your average software system. So why is software engineering so bad? Why is there so much crap software out there?

Software is (generally) much cheaper than a bridge too. And a lot of buyers are especially aggressive in cost-cutting.

Having a proper profession for Software Engineers doesn't sound so bad.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Is There So Much Crap Software in the World by commandlinefan on Friday December 18, 2020 @03:46PM (#25471745)
> Having a proper profession

The author torpedoes his entire thesis with his footnote:

> I am certainly not suggesting that we gatekeep the software profession

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why Is There So Much Crap Software in the World by 908B64B197 on Friday December 18, 2020 @04:42PM (#25472415)
Not gatekeeping. That would be preventing folks from coding by law. A ridiculous idea.

More like, enforcing certain standards. ie "When you hire from X, you can assume they know Y and are proficient with Z". It already happens with recruiting. When I see resumes from X I know what to expect.

If someone decides to engage in a race to the bottom and hires "engineers" from something other than X then, good luck. Maybe you found a diamond in the rough, but likely not. In that case don't whine that it's impossible to get nice software.

[ Parent | on HN ]