Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

floverfelt.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 369 posts

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#111

Post by Kronen »

dmalik wrote: post #60

> How can Software Engineers call themselves engineers when there’s no rules, governing bodies, or anything to stipulate what true Software Engineering is? We call ourselves software developers in Canada. According to Canadian engineering[1]: The "practice of engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that…

The second condition is a bit stupid, most failures or inappropriate functioning of the system in software development can be considered a harm in economic interests...

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#112

Post by allo37 »

dmalik wrote: post #60

> How can Software Engineers call themselves engineers when there’s no rules, governing bodies, or anything to stipulate what true Software Engineering is? We call ourselves software developers in Canada. According to Canadian engineering[1]: The "practice of engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that…

Some of us call ourselves "engineers". It just depends whether you want to pay the order for the privilege of having the title (and pretty much no other tangible benefit in 90+% of cases) :).

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#113

Post by swixmix »

cwp wrote: post #110

Eh, kinda. Calling something a "best practice" is basically an appeal to authority. It means, "this is the right way to do things, for reasons I don't have time to explain." There are times when that's appropriate. But really, "best" and "right" are highly situational. Any rule of thumb, even the most basic and uncontroversial, has a situation where it doesn't apply. I was part of a discussion on a mailing list years…

Reminds me of US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). I don't need to be perfect, just consistently good enough.

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#114

Post by only_as_i_fall »

floverfelt wrote: post #88
hyperman1 wrote: post #35

There is value in predictability, even if it stems from someone else's preferences. Current home wiring requires you put wires in the wall at (I think) between 10 and 20 cm from the border, and a small number of cm inside the wall. This means you only have to check that zone, and can use detectors, to find the wires. My home is from the 1950's. Some wires go diagonally from top left to bottom right at the other side…

100% that's true! I'm not saying developers having preferences and everybody abiding by them is a bad thing, more just that a lot of what constitutes "best practices" are often preferences and we should call them that.

Doesn't that kind of imply that everyone's opinions are equally valid? If 95% of your profession is on the same page with a certain practice then I'd argue it's really not reasonable to go against the grain without a very good reason.

I think "best practices" strikes a good balance between things that are personal preferences and things that are laws.

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#115

Post by bonestamp2 »

dmalik wrote: post #60

> How can Software Engineers call themselves engineers when there’s no rules, governing bodies, or anything to stipulate what true Software Engineering is? We call ourselves software developers in Canada. According to Canadian engineering[1]: The "practice of engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that…

Yes, I think we sometimes use the term "Engineer" a little too liberally in the US. For example, sometimes the janitor of an office building is called a "Custodial Engineer" which often just gets shortened to "Engineer". I remember the first time I heard a coworker say, "I'll call the engineer to have the thermostat adjusted". I thought that was overkill, but then a guy in overalls showed up and it made a little more sense.

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#116

Post by intrepidhero »

Vernor Vinge uses the term "Programmer-Achaeologist", which feels appropriate to any time we're doing software maintenance. If I'm truly creating something new I'd go with "Software-Alchemist" since the practice feels much more in line with the efforts of alchemists to fumblingly come to grips with actual chemistry than with modern engineering.

After reading about practices at JPL during the development of Curiosity, and the earlier work on Apollo (just two examples) I do think there is such a thing as an engineering practice of software development. I just don't think most of us are using it.

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#118

Post by lincpa »

It's “best practices” of Software Engineering that "The Grand Unified Programming Theory: The Pure Function Pipeline Data Flow with Principle-based Warehouse/Workshop Model".

It makes development a simple task of serial and parallel functional pipelined "CRUD".

https://github.com/linpengcheng/PurefunctionPipelineDataflow

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#119

Post by npteljes »

>How can Software Engineers call themselves engineers

I always wondered the same thing, even now, az a so-called Lead Software Engineer. Frankly I call myself a programmer and that's it, maybe a "manager of sorts" now that I'm a "lead". I don't want to assume what others are doing, maybe engineering level work, but I'm rather an overpriced jack of all trades myself, who happened to have a nicely paying trade as a hobby, and an agreeable personality to sell it.

Architect is another glorified software position. Millenia of architects pushing the limits of human technology, often bearing huge responsibility for their plans, just so that later I can come in, advise my client to use the AWS vendor lock-in vehicle, and call myself an architect.

Re: Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

#120

Post by skipants »

dmalik wrote: post #60

> How can Software Engineers call themselves engineers when there’s no rules, governing bodies, or anything to stipulate what true Software Engineering is? We call ourselves software developers in Canada. According to Canadian engineering[1]: The "practice of engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that…

And yet, in Canada, every Software Engineer I know works no differently than a Software Developer.
Post reply on HN