Software Engineering Programmes are not Computer Science Programmes

13 years 4 months ago

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Programmes in “Software Engineering” have become a source of contention in many universities. Computer Science departments, many of which have used that phrase to describe individual courses for decades, claim software engineering as part of their discipline. Some engineering faculties claim “Software Engineering” as a new speciality in the family of engineering disciplines. This paper discusses the differences between traditional computer science programmes and most engineering programmes and argues that we need software engineering programmes that follow the traditional engineering approach to professional education. One such programme is described. 1 Where Does Software Engineering Belong? Since 1967, when a group of people from a variety of disciplines (most of whom would now be identiﬁed as computer scientists) met to discuss “Software Engineering” in southern Germany, computer scientists have discussed software engineering (SE) as if it were a subﬁeld of computer...

David Lorge Parnas

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