Towards a philosophy of software development : 40 years after the birth of software engineering

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Authors

Northover, Mandy
Kourie, Derrick G.
Boake, Andrew B.
Gruner, Stefan
Northover, Alan

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer

Abstract

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.

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Keywords

Philosophy of technology, Philosophy of software development, Software science versus software engineering, Development process, Change, Evolution, Revolution, Paradigm shift, Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Northover, M, Kourie, DG, Boake, A, Gruner, S & Northover, A 2008, ‘Towards a Philosophy of Software Development: 40 Years after the Birth of Software Engineering’, Journal for General Philosophy of Science, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 85-113.