A tale of three Disciplines and a

Revolution

This article compares the three disciplines, the Software engineering, the circuit
engineering, and the genetic engineering. He proffers that the software engineering has
not yet narrowed the gap between the academic disciplines and the practitioners.

Strong Points:

There are many failures in the software engineering which the author has correctly stated such
as:

1) There are no standard notations or norms in this field.

2) There are no validated practices or no systematic tools for practicing or testing. So there

is a need to have a certification protocols before accepting any software packages.

3) No standard product for usability and correctness. Standard Programming language

compilers can be used for certification purpose.

4) No standard curriculums in the basic level of study. There is a need to have a standard

foundation in order to have a reform in this discipline.

5) The software packages which are being produced or made are not being tested.

6) The regulatory authorities must license the practitioners especially those in the medical
and financial fields.

The author gives an example of a software which was being used in medical fields, which used
to hang up or give materially different results for the same data entered.
Weak points

The author has emphasized that the software engineering which is being taught in the

academic or university level has nothing or very less to do with what is being practiced in the

real world. Hence, an overstatement.

The other thing that the author mentions was the about the progress and the complexity of the

the disciplnes. He states that the other two disciplines are far more complex and advanced

than the software engineering because of the standards and the norms being followed from th

beginning. But the software engineering evolved much more later than the circuit and the

genetic engineering evolved.

The author also states that the software which is designed is not tested using certain standard

protocols. But the real time software are tested using real data and is certified.

The author also comments about the quality and the performances of today’s software

packages. But, nowadays quality standard products are being developed.

Do You agree with his position?

There are many point with which I cannot agree with the author. But it is true, there is a need

of development in the basis and the implementation of the software engineering. There is a

need to follow standards in order for the further development of this field.