The structure of software development thought

Software developers have long aspired to a place among the ranks of respected engineers. But even when they have focused consciously on that aspiration [15; 3] they have made surprisingly little effort to understand the reality and practices of the established engineering branches. One notable difference between software engineering and physical engineering is that physical engineers pay more attention to their products and less to the processes and methods of their trade. Physical engineering has evolved into a collection of specialisations–electrical power engineering, aeronautical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, automobile engineering, and several others. Within each specialisation the practitioners are chiefly engaged in normal design [18]. In the practice of normal design, the engineer