Software is not Just an Engineering Task

Just a simple and slightly humorous story.

In 1997 I had returned to academia to become proficient in Object Oriented Programming Methods. While at a local State College I was enrolled in the course that was expected to offer to me the mental structures so that I would be able to do just that, understand manipulate and create software objects derived from software classes. The professor was a brilliant young lady who had the distinction of having taught in a corporate setting years before. She had previously taken white haired COBOL programmers and made them into white haired C++ OOPs programmers. Great class with a great professor.

During our time outside of the class (most of the students were in their early 20's) the professor and I talked about theory and process. One of our ongoing discussions revolved around her well accepted stance that software development is an engineering science and I on the other hand said it is an art form. One of her supporting points was that the code was measurable using BIG-O methods. My counter points were about having writer's block when programming software projects, and that when I give two people the same project even if the functionality of the two resulting pieces of code worked identically that the actual code could be quite different.

Later into a second quarter at the school the professor was able to arrange for a lecturer that was headed to Georgia Tech for a talk about OOPs programming. He was an European PHD respected for his lectures. He agreed in advance of leaving his point of origin to come to the Southern Polytechnic University and give the same talk to us. He arrived and a small group of students and professors had a few moments to greet him privately. Quite a pleasant fellow. After his refreshments and some time to unwind we all left for the lecture hall.

The hall was nearly full at least 800 students in attendance, but this is only my recollection. He spoke for a good 45 minutes. Then he asked for questions. From the first two questions he became a bit frustrated. It was obvious to me that he resented answering questions that were not in line with the lecture he just delivered. It was obvious to me that the majority of younger students had no idea what the PHD in front of them had been speaking about for the last 45 minutes.

I took an opportunity with no third question to be asked to inject my question. I asked him to please give us his opinion with a discussion I had been having with my professor recently. I framed the question with my two supporting stances which I mentioned here in my first paragraph as "the writer's block and the differences in projects being coded to the same standards." I asked "What did he think? Is software an engineering science or an art form?" As I phrased this question I could see my professor (she was sitting one row back and in a section to my right) slide a bit forward in her stadium styled seat. The papers she was grading from her lap slid a bit forward as she caught them. She leaned more forward as she had just ran out of seat to be able to slide anymore.

His reaction was aggressive. He raised his voice. His hands flew about. I think I even saw, in his face, a little tinge of red. "Of course it is an art form. This is what I have been talking about for the past 45 minutes." My professor, bless her heart, nearly fell out of her seat. She had just delivered her own counter opinion into my lap.

The fact that engineering is exclusive of something being art is most likely the biggest failure in today's education of children in the USA. All art requires some technical engineering know how. Colors, pigments, metals, stone, canvas, music and even words have technical elements that must be understood by an artist. It does require some engineering knowledge to be able to code. To be able to code efficiently is also a point to require engineering skills. I just know when I get writer's block it can take me a few minutes or hours to get past it.

*** Please be aware that none of the images used in this article are of the people or places mentioned.