Software Engineering Programs Are Not Computer Science Programs

N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 9 I E E E S o f t w a r e 1 9 ince 1967, when a group of people from a variety of disciplines (most of whom would now be identified as computer scientists) met to discuss “Software Engineering”in southern Germany, computer scientists have discussed SE as if it were a subfield of computer science. Within CS departments we find people who specialize in automata theory, language design, operating systems, theorem proving, software engineering, and many other areas. Students take courses in a variety of subjects such as compilers, database systems, and, also, software engineering. Usually there is just one course entitled “Software Engineering,” although sometimes we find faddish extras such as “Object-Oriented Software Engineering”or “Component-Based Software Engineering.” David Lorge Parnas, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY Software Engineering Programs Are Not Computer Science Programs “ S of t ware Engineer ing” programs have b ecome a source o f content ion in many univers i t ies. Computer Sc ience depar tments, many o f which have used that phrase to descr ib e ind iv idua l courses for decades, c la im SE as par t o f the i r d i sc ip l ine. Yet some engineer ing facu l t ies c la im i t as a new sp ec ia l t y among the engineer ing d isc ip l ines. Th is a r t i c le d i scusses the d i f fe rences b et ween t rad i t iona l CS programs and most engineer ing programs, and argues that we need SE programs that fo l low the t rad i t iona l engineer ing approach to pro fess iona l educat ion .