On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:31:51 -0400, 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

Some fairly heavy-duty math is behind software that does:
secure computing
encryption and decryption
compression
image processing
some controls, particularly controls that must not fail like
flight controls, refineries, etc.

I'd agree that few of the engineers I knew that did this sort of work
were computer scientists.