Some Perspective

The field of software engineering is only about 50 years old. In that time, software has managed to revolutionize modern living to such an extent that we have a hard time imagining life without software. As has been the case in other engineering disciplines, software practice has led software theory much of the time, and universities have not always kept up. On the other hand, practice has also had trouble keeping up with some of the theory because the general level of education in software engineering techniques has been so lacking. Without the university infrastructure in place, it's difficult to transfer proven theories into practice.

Educational programs for software engineering that are modeled on traditional engineering programs are just right. They will produce graduates more useful to industry than computer science programs do. They will allow computer science programs to heal their currently split personalities and focus more on science. And a software engineering education will be less painful for all involved than equivalent education from the school of hard knocks.