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closewith 5 days ago

> In the context of software vs other sub-disciplines, the big difference is in the cost of iterating and validating.

No, the big difference is that in the Engineering disciplines, engineers are responsible end-to-end for the consequences of their work. Incompetence or unethical engineers can and regularly do lose their ability to continue engineering.

It's very rare that software developers have any of the rigour or responsibilities of engineers, and it shows in the willingness of developers to write and deploy software which has real-world costs. If developers really were engineers, they would be responsible for those downstream costs.

hgomersall 5 days ago | parent [-]

There are plenty of engineering of physical things where nobody has or takes responsibility. Equally, there's plenty of examples of software where careful processes are in place to demonstrate exactly the responsibilities you discuss.

closewith 5 days ago | parent [-]

> There are plenty of engineering of physical things where nobody has or takes responsibility.

That is by definition not engineering.

> Equally, there's plenty of examples of software where careful processes are in place to demonstrate exactly the responsibilities you discuss.

Software engineering of course exists, but 99%+ of software is not engineered.

hgomersall 5 days ago | parent [-]

Ah, you've defined yourself to be right. Nice move.

I'm not sure the generally accepted definition of engineering makes any reference to taking responsibility: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/engineer...

closewith 4 days ago | parent [-]

In fact, every definition of engineering used by professionals includes explicitly taking responsibility, including in law in many countries.

ozim 4 days ago | parent [-]

I will add this link once more.

This is the talk on real software engineering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhdlBHHimeM

closewith 4 days ago | parent [-]

I think maybe you should watch this video, as it speaks only about software development and not engineering in any meaningful aspect.