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Hippocratic Oath for Software Professionals

CCPE | September 29, 2004 | 1 comments

If the medical community adopted the methods presently used to create software would society accept the same success rates that we are having with our projects or would changes to their way of working happen quicker?

Dr. Phillip A. Laplante, Ph.D., an associate professor of software engineering at the Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Studies, has written an article for the ACM Queue titled “First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers”. He talks about the Hippocratic oath that doctors have to take and expresses the need for software professionals to have a similar oath.

He compares and contrasts how doctors and software professionals work and think. I found myself on many occasions laughing in shame at his comparisons. But then again, the risk of ruin is much greater when you are working on people as opposed to a web-based calculator but I think he was referring to the developers of critical software systems.

He even suggests an oath for software developers.

“I solemnly pledge, first, to do no harm to the software entrusted to me; to not knowingly adopt any harmful practice, nor to adopt any practice or tool that I do not fully understand. With fervor, I promise to abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will do all in my power to expand my skills and understanding, and will maintain and elevate the standard of my profession. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the stakeholders, to hold in confidence all information that comes to my knowledge in the practice of my calling, and to devote myself to the welfare of the project committed to my care.”

Do you think if we had an oath to take similar to the one that Dr. Laplante has suggested that we would be more responsible as software engineers or computer scientists?

Related Links:

• Article: “First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers”
• ACM Queue

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Comments

September 30, 2004 05:45 PM | Ness commented:

I thought that is why it is called “Software Engineering” and not “Software Developer/Analyst/Technician/etc”.

I would suggest a quick reading of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers guidlines on Ethics, and Definition of Professional Engineering: [English] http://www.ccpe.ca/e/guide_guidelines.cfm

Nothing gets my britches in a knot more than “Software Developers” calling themsleves “Engineers”. They do not have the knowledge, experience or ability to accept responsibility that those with a proper designation (P.Eng in Ontario) have.

4 years after I graduate I’ll be glad to get new business cards saying I’m a “Software Engineer”, but not till then.

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