So what is the difference between a software engineer and computer scientist?

That's a keeper. And to the Lewin/Colin dichotomy one could add:

"The power of acute observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

Roberto Waltman (Who really,really,really would like to be a computer scientist...)

PeteS a écrit :

A software engineer writes bugs in a hardware company. A computer scientist writes bugs in a software company.

A software engineer writes software that is not sold but bundled with the real thing. A computer scientist writes software that is sold and that is the real thing.

;-)

A computer scientist writes software that is provably correct but does nothing. A software engineer writes software that is buggy but does something.

Or something.

John

Theoretically there is no difference between theory and practice. Practically, however, there is.

Computer Science, like Christian Science, believes that faith and virtue overcome all ills.

A Computer Engineer is more like a Railroad Engineer, concerned with handling, timely arrival, and the course of the tracks.

Software engineer is a nearly meaningless term. In states which license engineers, there is rarely any such license. I myself am a software engineer. You could be one too.

Embedded engineers do software that operates their unit correctly, such that it is not obvious there *is* any software in the unit.

This is true computer science.

Cheers

PeteS

Actually, I see the humour; imo, those doomed to writing code for Windows need more training, but have less; those writing for *nix / *nux need less training but have more ;)

It should be noted I have written a lot of code on posix platforms :)

Cheers

PeteS

Well, I don't like Cole's Law. I'd rather have cottage cheese.

Cheers! Rich

Maybe somebody should come up with "God science" - then maybe we'd learn a thing or three! ;-)

Cheers! Rich

;-)

A scriptkiddie writes "software that is buggy". A software engineer writes bug-free softtware because he designs it before he enters it at the console. ;-)

Cheers! Rich

Well, dang it! Now you've gone and confused the issue! ;-P

Thanks! Rich

"Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@doubleclick.net...

Scientology - no science and bugger all ology.

Yes, I wrote that. Followed by a 1/2 smiley indicating it was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

But I didn't write that, even though it was attributed to me.

Something like "Creation Science"?

isnt that like fighting for peace, or (my favourite) f****ng for virginity?

Cheers Terry

Well, I'm currently working on refining my "Stupid Design" theory. ;-D

Cheers! Rich

Does the universe Taste Great, or is it Less Filling?

What bothers me is the brain-lock on both sides that refuses to consider the possibility that it's something in between, i.e, "God" created a Universe that's evolving. I have no problem with that either way. :-)

Thanks! Rich

that sounds like a good idea. Here, let me flesh it out for you:

Stupid Design:

- God is an incompetent, bungling fool (eg creates humans flawed, so we cant keep the 10 commandments, then changes his mind about them ergo new testament)

- God is also astonishingly insecure (eg 1st commandment)

- This omniscient idiot then designs a human being so poorly that 3/4 of all pregnancies self-terminate in the first month because the prospective foetus is FUBAR.

- of the ones that actually make it out the birth canal, all manner of hideous monstrosities occur - retards, mutants, hydrocephalics, politicians et al

- And in a fit of Inspired Stupidity, God placed a sewer next door to the playground ;)

ID is just drivel. I especially like their "irreducible complexity" argument - we dont understand it so God must have done it. Morons.

Interesting to see ted haggard is now 100% heterosexual. Yeah Right....

Cheers Terry

Or that there is a god but it couldn't give a rat's ass what we say or do. Or that it likes it when humans are evil and cruel. I've seen little evidence to the contrary.

After all, if there WAS a just and benevolent god, Juliet Prowse would be alive and Jesse Helms would be dead.

Was it Jay Leno who said Haggard was 'cured' by excess, like when your dad catches you smoking and makes you smoke the whole pack? I wonder what was smoking on old Ted?

I got a Computer Science degree, and we were taught to program (stuff like writing floating point libraries using only integer instructions on an IBM 360, and coding a 6502 through a hexadecimal keypad).

Of course, that was 78-82

Then I got a Masters of Computer Science (Minor in EE) in 86.

I did embedded systems, compilers, and wrote some Assemblers for some new microprocessors. Wrote graphics routines for Printers. Children's software. Some work on a few Windows Applications. Rules Engines to automate Eligibility for Government Assistance programs. Web Applications. An Open Source project.

Maybe they just didn't have the term "Software Engineering" when I got stamped on the forehead with the "CS" label.

All that said, Software is not often "Engineered" and its development is rarely "Science". Maybe both terms are just wishful thinking!

Paul