[comp.edu] Software Design as a Discipline

dhansen@nmsu.edu (Deren Hansen) (12/30/90)

In the January 1990 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal Mitch Kapor issues a call
for a new profession: software designer.  Drawing on the example of the 
collaboration between architect and engineer, Kapor argues that, in addition
to computer scientists and software engineers, we need software designers.  
These new professionals would "stand with a foot in two worlds - the world of
technology and the world of people and human purposes - and [would] try to
bring those two together."  But software design is more than just user 
interface design; "The software designer is concerned primarily with the
overall conception of the product."

The article closes with a note that Prof. Terry Winograd, at Stanford, "has
been awarded a major NSF grant to develop and teach the first multicourse
curriculum in software design."  I would very much like to know if anyone
has further information about this program.  Of course, it would also be 
interesting to hear opinions about software design as a discipline in 
general.