Thursday, March 04, 2004
ACM: Ubiquity - Correct by Design A call for professional standards in programming
This is an interview with Jesse Poore, who proposes in a recent paper that software developers should be held to the same kinds of rigorous standards and levels of accountability as 'real' professionals such as doctors, plumbers, electricians etc. the interview, and paper, make interesting reading, not least because of the acknowledgement that the majority of the industry think that achieving 'perfect' software is impossible. Poore suggests that, for specialist applications at least, comprehensive training will be required. will this lead to a sharp division between DIY programming and the more professional sort?
the image that springs to mind is one of me having spent a considerable amount of time on my 'DIY' programming project, only to have to call in a 'professional' programmer to fix what I've done wrong - the analogy is something like the plumber you end up calling when you've stretched your pipefitting skills just a little bit too far. so, will the next generation of software engineers stand around a lot, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth and asking questions like "oh dear oh dear oh dear! who's done this?" before giving us horrendous quotes for tiny jobs? let's hope the DIY programming movement isn't over yet...
This is an interview with Jesse Poore, who proposes in a recent paper that software developers should be held to the same kinds of rigorous standards and levels of accountability as 'real' professionals such as doctors, plumbers, electricians etc. the interview, and paper, make interesting reading, not least because of the acknowledgement that the majority of the industry think that achieving 'perfect' software is impossible. Poore suggests that, for specialist applications at least, comprehensive training will be required. will this lead to a sharp division between DIY programming and the more professional sort?
the image that springs to mind is one of me having spent a considerable amount of time on my 'DIY' programming project, only to have to call in a 'professional' programmer to fix what I've done wrong - the analogy is something like the plumber you end up calling when you've stretched your pipefitting skills just a little bit too far. so, will the next generation of software engineers stand around a lot, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth and asking questions like "oh dear oh dear oh dear! who's done this?" before giving us horrendous quotes for tiny jobs? let's hope the DIY programming movement isn't over yet...
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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