Mike -
On 2010-12-27, at 4:42 PM, Mike Bennett wrote:
> The problem is less acute in non English speaking countries, and
> in English speaking countries outside of the UK and the Americas.
> In most countries, using the term "Engineer" is considered to be
> as precise as using the term "Doctor", but somehow in British
> usage it has become reduced to a generic term along the lines of
> "workman". This hasn't helped anyone in software "engineering" to
> find themselves part of the culture and practice of engineering,
> sadly.
A realistic assessment.
Folks call them selves "enterprise
architect" when
they've built a
website. Huh?
Last week I was at MIT (in the same room where the Data Quality
Financial Services track met). Topic was "complex systems."
Eventually someone brought up "software engineering"... which I
jumped on. To my delight challenging "software engineering" as
engineering got a big laugh.
How can a profession be considered "engineering" when after 60+ years
we don't even have a universally recognized, accepted, and practiced
means of measurement? At least in the UK, screw thread standards are
down to a manageable 5... after what? 300 years?
By a show of hands, who here—with the exception of JFS—(1) knows what
Function Points are, (2) has used them, and (3) is in an organization
that relies on them? Don't everyone raise their hands at once.
I'm happy to argue
that since we're no where close to measuring the
software process, putting forth ontology as an engineering discipline
is a tad premature.
___________________
David Eddy
deddy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx781-455-0949
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/ Config Subscr:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/ Unsubscribe: mailto:
ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxShared Files:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/Community Wiki:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ To join:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1JTo Post: mailto:
ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx