Re: Programmers -> Engineers; Engineers -> Programmers

[whiting_ms@corning.com (whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting))]

In article <Dvu0Jr.Esx.0.-s@inmet.camb.inmet.com>, ryer@harp.camb.inmet.com (Mike Ryer) writes:
> There are many first-rate programmers who have a general scientific education
> and the interest and quickness to learn a lot about radar -- just don't let
> them design your antennas.  There are many first-rate electronic engineers
> who have the patience and flexibility to learn programming -- just don't let
> them code your flight control system.
> 
> An electrical engineer can learn on his/her own how to program, but it takes
> working in a team within an established software engineering culture to really
> learn about maintainability, robustness, configuration management, defensive
> programming, realtime constraints, etc.  (A succession of hard knocks will
> also work, though this is tough on the first few projects).
> 
> A good programmer or software engineer should be able to find ambiguities and 
> contradictions in the requirements document written by a radar designer, think
> of boundary conditions and unusual scenarios, design for efficiency on 
> processing the kinds on input that actually occur in practice, etc.  In 
> other words, if they're good, they will have insight into the physics, 
> electronics, and mechanics of the system.
> 
> A successful project wants software engineers who understand the underlying
> science, and radar designers who understand software.  At least a few of each.
> Maybe you'll find a superman who does quantum mechanics in his head *and*
> writes code that's easy for other people to understand.  (I haven't).
> 
> To the extent that you don't have the excellent electronic and software
> engineers who learn enough about each other's fields, you need communicators,
> reviewers, requirements testers as well as code testers (note Arianne 5
> story), and a lot of extra time.
> 
> So the summary is:  
>   Q: Is it better to take engineers/scientists who understand the system
>      and teach them how to program?  Or is it better to take programmers
>      and teach them about the radar system?
>   A: No.
> 
-- 

And I planned to answer, YES.

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Matthew S. Whiting, P.E.   | PP-ASEL-IA | All opinions expressed herein are
Corning Incorporated       | C-182K/A   | strictly personal.
whiting_ms@corning.com     |            |