referenceArchiveUUID: "eae3cd71-3207-4c5a-9cd8-d7cc302e6a8f"
fullTitle: "The computer \"scientist\" as toolsmith: studies in interactive computer graphics"
authors: ["Frederick P. Brooks, Jr."]
Fred Brooks argues that “computer science” was misnamed, and that in fact it’s a kind of engineering. He sees his role as a tool-maker, necessarily in service to others’ problems, and successful only insofar as he’s solved them.
One very interesting claim, via Christopher Alexander: “the only way to achieve good fit between any design and its requirements is {to find misfits and remove them}; there is no {direct way to derive form from requirement}. Good fit is {the absence of all possible misfits}.” ☉
Q. Fred Brooks: “The scientist ? in order to ?; the engineer ? in order to ?.”
A. “The scientist builds in order to study; the engineer studies in order to build.” ☉