Carl, >I suspect a shorter term for "non-evidence based software engineering" is >dogma!
Religion can be dogmatic. How about mysticism? >As a trained and indentured aeronautical engineer and a long term practising >software and systems designer I am continually appalled at the continual >re-invention of the same wheels and the ignorance and avoidance of the >empirical base of knowledge that has been built up over the years. I guess >that this is partially down to the continual reinvention of software >engineering - often through yet another dogmatic panacea such as OO, CDB, >agile, etc - and the need for the adherents of the brave new discipline to >boldly ignore all of the good from the blasphemers of the older approaches. Software is a new invention, so rapid changes are to be expected. You might like to read some of the papers at: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/boyd/Publications.htm particularly: Why Culture is Common but Cultural Evolution is Rare Why Does Culture Increase Human Adaptibility? Why the culture of academic software engineering ignores empirical results is another questions. There are plenty of academic disciplines where experimentation forms the backbone of the subject. Perhaps it is because those with an interest in things experimental go into industry and those with no such interests go into academia. Once the strong industry demand for software developers dies down (or moves to India and China) we might see a more experimentally based culture in academic software engineering. derek -- Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667 Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([email protected]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
