Will the Real Software Engineer Please Stand Up?

Effectiveness: According to the wags, SE has been in constant crisis ever since computer users had to depend on others to create their software. More recently, the PITAC Report claimed (in slightly different language) that we cannot produce the needed software at the pace we need it, and the software produced breaks too easily. Just as 30 years ago, the slogan “faster, better, cheaper” still sums up today the basic needs in software production. While a doom and gloom attitude about the sorry state of software often predominates, the overwhelming accomplishments achieved by software intensive systems appear to tell a quite different story: software pervades the technologically advanced societies; software controls our cars, our planes, our telephones, and our washing machines; software underpins and drives the economy. In such a schizophrenic atmosphere, the question of the effectiveness of software engineering as a profession invites discussion, and consequently the question of what constitutes a proper software engineering curriculum always raises controversy. If we consider software engineers as national heroes for their accomplishments, we should pass along the tools and techniques used by them to the next generation; if, however, we believe that their inability to end the software crisis has its roots in the lack of systematic knowledge about how to build large software systems, then we must demand a different emphasis for educating the next generation.