Engineering Discipline

An Engineering Discipline is a technical discipline to build designed systems.

• Context:
  • It can be associated with Engineering Practices.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • Civil engineering.
  • Mechanical engineering.
  • Chemical engineering.
  • Electrical engineering.
  • Software engineering.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Legal Discipline.
  • a Medical Discipline.
  • a Applied Mathematics.
  • a Applied Science.
• See: Systems Engineering, Scientific Method, Engineering Branch.

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References

• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22a+technical+discipline+such+as+engineering%22

2019

• (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/engineering Retrieved:2019-12-11.
  • Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering. The term engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise".

2019b

• (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_engineering_branches Retrieved:2019-12-11.
  • Engineering is the discipline and profession that applies scientific theories, mathematical methods, and empirical evidence to design, create, and analyze technological solutions cognizant of safety, human factors, physical laws, regulations, practicality, and cost. In the contemporary era, engineering is generally considered to consist of the major primary branches of chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. There are numerous other engineering subdisciplines and interdisciplinary subjects that may or may not be part of these major engineering branches.

2013

• (Blue et al., 2013) ⇒ Ethan Blue, Michael Levine, and Dean Nieusma. (2013). “Engineering and War: Militarism, Ethics, Institutions, Alternatives." Morgan \& Claypool Publishers. doi:10.2200/S00548ED1V01Y201311ETS020

1990

• (Shaw, 1990) ⇒ Mary Shaw. (1990). “Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software.” In: IEEE Software, 7(6).
  • QUOTE: Software engineering is a label applied to a set of current practices for software development. Using the word engineering to describe this activity takes considerable liberty with the common use of that term. In contrast, the more customary usage refers to the disciplined application of scientific knowledge to resolve conflicting constraints and requirements for problems of immediate, practical significance.

    Definitions of engineering have been written for well over a hundred years. Here is a sampling of typical definitions: ...

    1. In 1828 Thomas Tredgold wrote, "Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man; being that practical application of the most important principles of natural philosophy which has, in a considerable degree, realized the anticipations of Bacon, and changed the aspect and state of affairs in the whole world" [Armytage 61, p.123].
    2. "Engineering is ’the art or science of making practical applications of the knowledge of pure sciences.’ In other words, although engineers are not scientists, they study the sciences and use them to solve problems of practical interest, most typically by the process that we call creative design" [Florman 76, p.x].
    3. "Engineering is often defined as the use of scientific knowledge and principles for practical purposes .... usually by designing useful products" [Parnas 90, p.17].
    4. Arthur Wellington, the late 19th century scholar of railroad economics, defined an engineer as "a man who can do that well with one dollar which any bungler can do with two after a fashion" [Finch 51, p.102].
  • Although these and other definitions differ in detail, they share a common set of clauses:
    • Creating cost-effective solutions... Engineering is not just about solving problems; it is about solving problems with economical use of all resources, including money.
    • ...to practical problems... Engineering deals with practical problems whose solutions matter to people outside the engineering domain N the customers.
    • ...by applying scientific knowledge ... Engineering solves problems in a particular way: by applying science, mathematics, and design analysis.
    • ...building things ... Engin.eering emphasizes the solutions, which are usually tangible artifacts.
    • ...in the service of mankind Engineering not only serves the immediate customer, but also develops technology and expertise that will support the society.
  • Engineering relies on codifying scientific knowledge about a technological problem domain in a form that is directly useful, to the practitioner, thereby providing answers for questions that commonly occur in practice. Engineers of ordinary talent can then apply this knowledge to solve problems, far faster than they otherwise could. In this way, engineering shares prior solutions rather than relying always on virtuoso problem solving.

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