duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) (04/10/91)
Someone has written: [much deleted about details of the project structures] >- many of the programmers have little training in Software Engineering, > but are specialists in their application area - e.g. Physics, Maths, etc. > graduates. >Clearly, since we are a research centre we do not want to stifle >creativity, but we do equally want to produce reliable, maintainable >software. Let me first indicate that I don't want this to look like I am picking on this particular instance so I have deleted reference to who said it, etc. It just suggested the following line of thought. Given that the software these folks are creating seems like it is directed at some specific research applications NOT in computer science and given that most software is directed at applications NOT in computer science, the idea of "stifling creativity" has always surprised me. What are folks like this, or other application problem solvers, supposed to be "creative" at? I would assume the client hopes they are "creative" at solving the application prob- lem rather than being specifically clever at computer science issues. What kinds of "creativity" do people on the Net feel are important, i.e., need to be encouraged, which are independent of the problem being solved? Writing software seems to take on a life of its own in many cases and the focus of the creativity becomes implementation detail rather than design of the problem solution. If one is doing computer science research or, perhaps, even systems level pro- gramming, then "creativity" in implementation may be the appropriate kind to seek. But it seems that the joy of programming takes over concern for the problem to be solved and is a contributing factor to the problems which people hope software engineering rigor will solve. Speaking only for myself, of course, I am... Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan) (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ 08854) (908-699-3910 (w) 609-737-2945 (h))