Oct 21, 2026, 8:30 PM@gaditb (although it does make a difference that a CPU is one of the most complicated machines humans have ever constructed *and it doesn't do anything by itself*, you have to hook it up to multiple other things that *also* qualify as "one of the most complicated machines humans have ever constructed" to make it useful)
Oct 21, 2026, 8:42 PM@zwol The other difference is that programming as an engineering discipline has not yet come to face and account for the actual impact on people's lives we have, and take responsibility as an industry for failure and for accredidation.
(And like, other industries are at different points -- like, the difference between crash investigations in the airline industry and crash investigations in the railroad industry is a famous difference of proper responsibility -- but I think we're undeniably at the far back of the pack.)
(Even taking into account the "interviewing other-fields engineers and computer engineers to tell the differences" work that complicates this picture, that's still worthwhile to look for and into.)