Who Killed the Software Engineer?
Posted on January 21, 2008 Comments (6)
Computer Science Education: Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? by Dr. Robert B.K. Dewar and Dr. Edmond Schonberg
1. Mathematics requirements in CS programs are shrinking.
2. The development of programming skills in several languages is giving way to cookbook approaches using large libraries and special-purpose packages.
3. The resulting set of skills is insufficient for today’s software industry (in particular for safety and security purposes) and, unfortunately, matches well what the outsourcing industry can offer. We are training easily replaceable professionals.
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As faculty members at New York University for decades, we have regretted the introduction of Java as a first language of instruction for most computer science majors. We have seen how this choice has weakened the formation of our students, as reflected in their performance in systems and architecture courses.
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Every programmer must be comfortable with functional programming and with the important notion of referential transparency. Even though most programmers find imperative programming more intuitive, they must recognize that in many contexts that a functional, stateless style is clear, natural, easy to understand, and efficient to boot.
An additional benefit of the practice of Lisp is that the program is written in what amounts to abstract syntax, namely the internal representation that most compilers use between parsing and code generation. Knowing Lisp is thus an excellent preparation for any software work that involves language processing.
This is an excellent article: any CS students or those considering careers as programmers definitely should read this. Also read: Computer Science Education.
via: Who Killed the Software Engineer?
Related: A Career in Computer Programming – Programming Grads Meet a Skills Gap in the Real World – Programming Ruby – What you Need to Know to Be a Computer Game Programmer – Hiring Software Developers – What Ails India’s Software Engineers?
Categories: Career, Engineering, Math, Students, Technology, Universities
Tags: Career, computer science, open access paper, programming, software engineering, undergraduate education, university
6 Responses to “Who Killed the Software Engineer?”
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February 3rd, 2008 @ 12:44 am
Yes, this was an interesting article. Perhaps this is a situation that could be helped by professional licensure. If the title “software engineer” is to be used, then perhaps it would be best to have its meaning defined and standardized.
April 16th, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
Most people seem to apply a certain litmus test of sorts to determine if something is a science. Something is a science if
(1) it uses the scientific method (i.e., empirical research and observation)
(2) it involves studying “fundamental principles” of the natural or physical world
October 2nd, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
I program in mainly in java these days and I would agree with the article especially the part about cookbook approaches using large libraries. Too often programmers are googling solutions to problems and churning out large amounts of bloated code. The coder generally knows nothing about the inner workings of the code and can lead to very messy solutions. Saying that, a good java programmer can implement elegant and quick solutions to programming problems
October 17th, 2008 @ 4:05 pm
“I’ve been working on arithmetic in Mathematica for more than 12 years. You might think that’s silly; after all, how hard can arithmetic be?”
January 4th, 2009 @ 10:05 am
“Software engineering already has been defined as engineering, we have an international reference standard for that definition…”
October 23rd, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
Software engeneering is booming in India because so much work is outsourced from Europe and the states. That just makes computer science education so much more important here.