News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Iron Ring by gknoy on Tuesday May 07, 2013 @03:39PM (#5670250)
For those of us who are not Engineers, can you elaborate (or point us to more info) on the Important Ethical Considerations? I've always struggled to explain why programming is not engineering.
Re:Iron Ring by grumps on Tuesday May 07, 2013 @06:53PM (#5671397)
Typically there's a subtle difference in courses taken.

For example - at my school Comp Sci were allowed to take physics for physics majors instead of physics for engineers. For both electromagnetic physics and mechanical physics. Typically most engineers are required to take some courses in the some basic courses, ie Dynamics, Statics, and others depending on your major. This all assumes that your ABET accredited. Maybe it's because I don't see an accrediting agency/society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABET#Members

Re:Iron Ring by larrydag on Tuesday May 07, 2013 @08:28PM (#5671775)
Good question. The Engineering profession holds certain code of ethics for the public at large. For instance when you step into a high-rise building, board a cruise ship, or travel across highways they are required to have rigorous testing and design protocol to ensure public safety. I believe NSPE says it best http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
Re:Iron Ring by damoncali on Tuesday May 07, 2013 @05:16PM (#5670857)
As a programmer who was once an engineer by trade, I would say the difference is that engineering implies manipulation of the pysical sciences, where programming is just logic.
Re:Iron Ring by lholden on Wednesday May 08, 2013 @02:06AM (#5672793)
"Just logic" I think really underplays things. That logic ends up in flight control systems, valve control for oil rigs, power grid management, robotics, factory automation, satellites, etc. A lot of software programming has very physical implications.