• FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
    Aquileo | link
    Aquileo | fedilink
    English
    Aquileo | arrow-up
    3
    Aquileo | arrow-down
    24
    ·
    2 days ago

    I only consider Engineering to be the application of math and science to plan complex systems or structures.

    If a person is doing that as a programmer then they have to already understand computer architecture to a bare minimum of how memory works physically, processor functionality, and discreet mathematics: which makes them a computer engineer.

    If a person completely lacks understanding of math or physics behind the machines they code for then I don’t care how complicated their derivative work is: it is not engineering. Much like how painting is not engineering nor is balancing a stack of rocks.

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
      Aquileo | link
      Aquileo | fedilink
      English
      Aquileo | arrow-up
      11
      ·
      2 days ago

      So you believe that

      1. Engineering is the application of math and science to plan complex systems and structures
      2. Computer science teaches math and science to plan complex systems and structures

      But you believe that computer science prepares students for “programming”, not engineering, so they aren’t engineers. Despite it being about the application of math and science to design complex systems and structures (engineering) and despite the fact that everyone else calls this profession software engineering and you call it programming. And you don’t think you have a bias?

        • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone
          Aquileo | link
          Aquileo | fedilink
          English
          Aquileo | arrow-up
          12
          ·
          2 days ago

          Oh, boooo. Boooo! Come on, you were lining up a classic crowd favorite, the “Real Engineers understand the fundamentals” attack, then they hit you with the ol’ “Some programming courses teach the fundamentals” and you come back with this? No pivot to credentialing, no tirade about how software is all virtual so it’s not the same as building something with real materials, no grand declaration about how real engineers have to take their jobs seriously because lives are at stake? Just “no it’s programming not engineering they’re different”? Weak.

          Back in my day we used to argue about whether or not software engineering is real engineering with some gumption.

          • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
            Aquileo | link
            Aquileo | fedilink
            English
            Aquileo | arrow-up
            2
            Aquileo | arrow-down
            10
            ·
            2 days ago

            Engineers are rarely menial labourers so idk what you mean by programming being virtual. Like 98% of engineering work is planning diagrams.

            My argument has always been that the work is different between a syntax ape and an engineer.

            • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone
              Aquileo | link
              Aquileo | fedilink
              English
              Aquileo | arrow-up
              9
              Aquileo | arrow-down
              1
              ·
              2 days ago

              I’m referring to the tropes of this tired-ass debate, I’m not saying there’s any merit to any of them. My heckle is mainly concerned with the lack of substance, even cliched or overused substance, behind the argument you’re trying to make. It sounds, based on the disrespectful way you describe coders as “syntax apes”, that you don’t really understand the craft of software development, the principles of engineering practice, or how the two intersect.

              You sound like a clueless manager who thinks of devs as interchangeable and easily replaceable cogs in a software factory.