[prog] State of software engineering profession

[Jenn Vesperman]

On Sun, 2003-04-13 at 17:18, Jimen Ching wrote:

> Cars aren't designed on an assembly line.  I don't see why the design
> process of software needs to be different from the design of everything
> else.  A software application is a system, just like products in every
> other industry.  And there are a few 'visionaries' that design software
> like everything else.  It's just that our industry doesn't do it that way.

Forgive me, but I don't understand your premise. Once a car's rough
design is made, a prototype is manufactured and tested. But the
prototype cannot be burned to disk and have millions produced, and a
prototype is never manufactured in assembly-line fashion.

Once a software design is made, a prototype is manufactured and tested. 
Once the prototype is acceptable, a copy is burned to disk - in fact, a
million copies are burned to disk. 

When, in software, can the assembly line be used? Software IS design,
down to finer and finer grain detail until finished.



Jenn V.
-- 
    "Do you ever wonder if there's a whole section of geek culture 
        	you miss out on by being a geek?" - Dancer.
   My book 'Essential CVS': published by O'Reilly in June 2003.
jenn at anthill.echidna.id.au     http://anthill.echidna.id.au/~jenn/