SEDE2008

Computer and Software Engineering: What was, what is, and what will be

Both computer and software engineering were created during the second half of the 20th century. Demand for computer and software engineers exceeds demand for older engineering areas but universities have fallen behind in meeting this demand. There is a push-back by university professors to include the latest software solutions into the classroom. Job demand will be described for all engineering degrees and for computer science degrees. With the beginning of the 21st century, the software development paradigm has changed resulting in declining demand for computer scientists and increased demand for engineers. The trends in engineering education will be explained contrasting university degrees with certificates, on-campus with distance learning courses, and science with engineering curricula. Effect of globalization on engineers and scientists will be discussed along with a discussion of future job demand in the United States.

The Engineering of Science

Science is evolving extremely rapidly into a computational discipline. Some observers predict that it will become concentrated in enormous data centers in which scientists focus on development of complex data mining applications. The nature of these centers is contested and seems to depend on the field -- centralized analytical databases, large-scale workflow processors, collaborative data warehouses, Googles-of-science. For any of these visions of the future to become reality, however, significant advances are needed in scientific Software and Data Engineering, moving Science from its current in-the-small methods to in-the-large automation. We review some central challenges and corresponding engineering strategies that appear likely to influence this evolution and the future practice of Science.