A marvellous analysis of the reasons for the "mathematical" (or formal) versus human orientation in software engineering can be found in Phil Agre's chapter "Conceptions of the user in computer system design". So far as I know, his observations regarding the "user" as human person have not been extended to observations about the software engineer as human person.
I offer this as a research opportunity to somebody out there ... Agre, Philip (1995) Conceptions of the user in computer system design. In P. Thomas (ed.) Social and Interactional Dimensions of Human-Computer Interfaces. Cambridge, CUP, pp. 67-106. Alan -- Alan Blackwell Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/afb21/ Phone: +44 (0) 1223 334418 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List (discuss@ppig.org) 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/
