Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Pete C. wrote:
Actually writing good software *is* engineering, ...

I was a software "engineer" for 25 years before retiring in '92. Maybe
things have changed since then (although I doubt it), but in my career I
never did myself, or saw, or heard about, or read about someone using
math to analyze the behavior of software. That is the essence of
"engineering": the use of math models, based on science, to analyze &
predict the behavior of a design. Be it electrical, mechanical, civil,
chemical, metallurgical, whatever real engineering. All based on
science. Software is NOT included.

Don't get me started on "computer science".

Bob

I don't know what sort of software development you were involved in, but
I do see folks applying math to analyze software all the time -- to
insure performance, to insure that it'll do what it's supposed to do, to
make sure it'll fit into the available space on an embedded processor,
all of that.

But then, I've seen all of the above discipline ignored, too. Many
folks who call themselves "software engineers" are just programmers.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html