Is Software the UFOlogy of Engineering Disciplines?

Section 3 has about 100 pages (in the pdf - I'd have to dig around to find the hard copy) that tries to look into what computer science is. Section 3.10 starts comparing it with engineering... and noting that it's looking at computer science rather than programing aspect of it. Part of the questions being asked is "is computer science a science?"

I'm going to highly recommend the book for those interested in these questions. I'll also point out that across its thousand(!) pages, this book is in large part a survey of the literature of tens of thousands of more pages on the subjects.

I don't believe that most people are approaching software development (be it called computer science or software engineering) with either the mindset of a scientist or an engineer (there are times when one of those mindsets is necessary) Rather, I agree with a later section in it...

    3.14.7 Is CS Magic?

    The great science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously said that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke’s_three_laws). Could it be that the advanced technology of CS is not only indistinguishable from magic, but really is magic? Not magic as in tricks, but magic as in Merlin or Harry Potter? As one CS student put it,
    Computer science is very empowering. It’s kind of like knowing magic: you learn the right stuff and how to say it, and out comes an answer that solves a real problem. That’s so cool. —Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan, quoted in Hauser 2017, p. 16
    Brooks makes an even stronger claim than Clarke:
    The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He [sic] builds castles in the air, creating by the exertion of the imagination . . . . Yet the program construct, unlike the poet’s words [or the magician’s spells?], is real in the sense that it moves and works, producing visible outputs separate from the construct itself. . . . *The magic of myth and legend has come true in our time. One types the correct incantation on a keyboard, and a display screen comes to life, showing things that never were nor could be.* (Brooks, 1975, pp. 7–8, my emphases).

    ...

    Clearly, programming involves exactly that kind of use of symbols. Or, as Abelson & Sussman put it in their introductory CS text (which we discussed in §3.14.4): A computational process is indeed much like a sorcerer’s idea of a spirit. It cannot be seen or touched. It is not composed of matter at all. However, it is very real. It can perform intellectual work. It can answer questions. It can affect the world by disbursing money at a bank or by controlling a robot arm in a factory. *The programs we use to conjure processes are like a sorcerer’s spells.* They are carefully composed from symbolic expressions in arcane and esoteric programming languages that prescribe the tasks we want our processes to perform. (Abelson et al., 1996, my italics)

They're not. There are however two factors greatly biasing your perception of UFOs. First, it takes a fair amount of effort to track down information in foreign language sources, so in general there's going to be a lot less English-language information on Chinese, Russian, or Japanese reports of UFOs. Second, militaries are going to both generate more UFO reports (thanks to military research programs that go awry, e.g., the circumstances behind the Roswell incident) and be a lot more open to collecting and investigating them (because of their ability to indicate the previous point). The US military being the largest and most well-funded in the world is thus going to generate the largest UFO report halo around it.

There is engineering as a discipline (e.g., mechanical, electrical, industrial, civil, aerospace...etc.) and engineering in a more colloquial sense like "I did some hillbilly engineering and rigged up a pea sheller". Both involve solving problems.

The former typically involves the person going through a rigorous 4-5 year program where they take a bunch of advanced math and physics classes and a ton of other classes (including coding and robotics as well as more specific classes such as power electronics) that teach logical thinking and problem solving. I'm always amazed that I can more or less talk to any engineer across the country (different state, different university, different engineering discipline) and still recognize their training and that hyper analytical mindset and feel the kinship. That of course doesn't mean that there aren't similar analytical people that went in other directions, but the training is a real thing.

A professional engineer passed their fundamentals of engineering exam, got their degree, and then took their professional engineering exam. You used to have to get 4 years of work experience before applying, but I think they got rid of that. It's an awful 8-hour exam with a pretty low pass rate. Honestly though, the PE usually just means the engineer was willing to spend 3-6 months prepping for the exam and has a need for the license to stamp papers. A lot of engineers never get it if they don't need it. I believe you need it in some cases for court cases.

As far as software engineering goes. It seems to be a discipline that matches the second colloquial definition more in a lot of cases. In some cases they have actual software engineering degrees where the student takes all the standard intro engineering courses (calculus, linear algebra, statistics, differential equations, statics, dynamics, circuits, thermodynamics) before doing the core classes distinct to that major. In that case, I'd call them an engineer due to the training and think it's an appropriate job title even if they get a job slinging corporate java, which would not typically be viewed as traditional engineering. So they're an engineer...not necessarily doing engineering. Does that really make sense? My own definition breaks down if we apply this to the same engineer becoming a garbage man. They're still an engineer by training, but they're most definitely not doing engineering anymore.

Also, if Pete gets a job slinging code out of highschool...we can say he's doing engineering in the colloquial second sense, but is he an engineer in the first sense? No.

Clear as mud? As an engineer I now must flog myself for my own internal inconsistencies. In all seriousness, language is hard and sometimes imprecise. I didn't realize my rambling got so long and apologize.