[luau] ics412: operating systems

[Jimen Ching]

On Sun, 29 Sep 2002 cpaul at telemetrybox.org wrote:
>I may get flamed for saying this, but here goes anyway:  Most people
>study computer science because professional degrees (Law/Medicine)
>usually require 7+ years of schooling.

Ok, let me flame you for this.  ;-}

As long as people treat computer science and software engineering as a
'technical' degree rather than a professional degree, then you will
continue to get mediocre software.

Anything you can say about software science, you can say the same about
the medical science.  I.e. people say software science is an art or a
craft because people don't know exactly what happens.  But doctors do the
same with pills and medicine.  Doctors prescribe drugs without knowing
whether it will cure your illness.  They often have to try a few different
drugs before finding the one that will work for you.  I can go on, but you
get the idea.

But the difference is, no one would trust a 16year old to perform brain
surgery, but the software industry brags about how a 16year old developed
an encryption algorithm.  I am sure there are also prodigies in the
medical profession as well, but those are exceptions.  Until we view the
software sciences as a true science, complaining that software is crap and
university students aren't prepared is not going to change anything.

Some people consider psychiatry a hack, because psychiatrists don't always
know what the results will be.  Software practitioners use the work 'hack'
all of the time.  Until they stop, how can anyone see software engineers
as true professionals?  If they call their work 'hacks', they will be
called 'hacks' themselves, in the same context as some psychiatrists.

--jc
-- 
Jimen Ching (WH6BRR)      jching at flex.com     wh6brr at uhm.ampr.org