Engineering I.E. Quality

[James Richard Tyrer]

Perhaps my previous posting was not clear or was not really a good example:

http://dot.kde.org/1081204077/1081219687/1081261910/1081317231/1081328080/#1081369703
<<
"Proper engineering criteria" is such a vague thing when it comes to 
programming. The perfect "abstract" design doesn't exist, only 
implementations can be seriously evaluated, and programmers have the last word.
 >>

To an engineer, it seems hard to imagine that he could be more wrong about 
so many thing is such a short posting.  But, I presume that this is what 
naturally comes from a programing centric Weltanschauung.

First, for those that don't know, the idea of a "perfect" design has 
nothing to do with engineering.  In fact the application of engineering 
criteria makes the a priori assumption that there is no perfect design. 
Engineering is always about optimization -- adjusting conflicting 
parameters to produce a design that best meets the criteria.  Which is why 
you MUST have criteria to design something.

To say that a design can only be evaluated after it is implemented is 
absurd.  Try applying that notion to a bridge.  Yes, you will have issues 
when you implement a design, but that does not mean that you shouldn't 
start with the design and then implement it.

But it is really the attitude that: "programmers have the last word" -- 
offered as a decree with no supporting argument -- that is the real issue.

They just don't get it.  It is the design of an application that is 
important -- at least as important as writing the actual code.  Writing the 
actual code is just the implementation.  Until all of the software 
engineers (developers) in this project come to realize this, the ultimate 
progress of this project is limited.

With this attitude prevalent among developers, it is going to be us against 
them, and I don't want any more of that.

--
JRT