From: Sean Russell <ser@...>
Date: 2002-05-14T09:08:40+09:00
Subject: RE: OT:is software eng an art?

james@rubyxml.com wrote:

> Hmm. I was taught it was a branch of mathematics, and that hard-core
> computer scientists rarely needed an actual computer, since the proofs
> could be done with a yellow pad and a pencil.  Programming is to computer

In olden days of yore, when computers were just used to calculate artillery 
trajectories or add up double-entry accounting, this was true.  Most useful 
applications these days are not NP-complete, and it is difficult, or 
impossible, to prove their correctness.

Human interaction, and randomizers, introduce non-determinism into a vast 
amount of modern software.  We're well past the days of pencil and paper 
proofs for most systems, I think.

--- SER