Towards a Philosophy of Software Development: 40 Years after the Birth of Software Engineering

Over the past four decades, software engineering has emerged as a discipline in its own right, though it has roots both in computer science and in classical engineering. Its philosophical foundations and premises are not yet well understood. In recent times, members of the software engineering commu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for general philosophy of science 2008-09, Vol.39 (1), p.85-113
Main Authors: Northover, Mandy, Kourie, Derrick G., Boake, Andrew, Gruner, Stefan, Northover, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer programming
Computer science
Computer software
Computer technology
Critical theory
Discussion
Discussions
Education
History
Methodology of the Social Sciences
Ontology
Operating systems
Philosophy
Philosophy of Education
Philosophy of Science
Social Sciences
Software engineering
Technology
Terminology
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Summary:Over the past four decades, software engineering has emerged as a discipline in its own right, though it has roots both in computer science and in classical engineering. Its philosophical foundations and premises are not yet well understood. In recent times, members of the software engineering community have started to search for such foundations. In particular, the philosophies of Kuhn and Popper have been used by philosophically-minded software engineers in search of a deeper understanding of their discipline. It seems, however, that professional philosophers of science are not yet aware of this new discourse within the field of software engineering. Therefore, this article aims to reflect critically upon recent software engineers' attempts towards a philosophy of software engineering and to introduce our own philosophical thoughts in this context. Finally, we invite the professional philosophers of science to participate in this interesting new discourse.
ISSN:0925-4560
1572-8587
DOI:10.1007/s10838-008-9068-7