Toward a tradition of software engineering

Ever since Boehm's Letter from the Executive Committee, in October 1994, the question, "is software engineering really engineering?" has been raised many times. Apparently, the National Society of Professional Engineers would like to make it illegal for anyone to call himself or herself a "software engineer" because software engineering is not one of their 36 recognized disciplines. In response, we have been asking questions like: "Is software development the same as software engineering?" "If not, what is the difference?" and "What would it take for us to become software engineers?"In January 1997, I received a copy of Defining "Engineer" --- How to Do It, and Why It Matters by Davis. After reading it closely, I feel compelled to write the following notes about the role of tradition in engineering and about the prospect of software engineering becoming real engineering.