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First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers?

First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers? First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers? opinion Phillip A. Laplante, Penn State University What ™s wrong W WITH TAKING OUR hen asked about the Hippocratic Oath, most people are likely to recall the phrase, œFirst, do no harm.  It ™s a logical response, as even those unfamiliar with the oath could figure out that avoiding additional injury in the course of treatment is critical. In fact, it ™s natural to strive in any endeavor not to break something further in the course of repair. In software engineering, as in medicine, doing no harm starts with a deep understanding of the tools and techniques available. Using this theme and some medical metaphors, I offer some observations on the practice of software engineering. FOUNDATIONS OF HEALTHY SKEPTICISM The Hippocratic Oath was proffered by the Greek scholar, Hippocrates, the œFather of Medicine,  around 500 B.C., and since then it has guided the practice of medicine. Variations of the oath are sworn at nonmedical school graduations. For example, the œNightingale Pledge  for nurses is an adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath and includes the phrase, œI will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Queue Association for Computing Machinery

First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers?

Laplante, Phillip A
Queue , Volume 2 (4) – Jun 1, 2004
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Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by ACM Inc.
ISSN
1542-7730
DOI
10.1145/1016978.1016991
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

First, Do No Harm: A Hippocratic Oath for Software Developers? opinion Phillip A. Laplante, Penn State University What ™s wrong W WITH TAKING OUR hen asked about the Hippocratic Oath, most people are likely to recall the phrase, œFirst, do no harm.  It ™s a logical response, as even those unfamiliar with the oath could figure out that avoiding additional injury in the course of treatment is critical. In fact, it ™s natural to strive in any endeavor not to break something further in the course of repair. In software engineering, as in medicine, doing no harm starts with a deep understanding of the tools and techniques available. Using this theme and some medical metaphors, I offer some observations on the practice of software engineering. FOUNDATIONS OF HEALTHY SKEPTICISM The Hippocratic Oath was proffered by the Greek scholar, Hippocrates, the œFather of Medicine,  around 500 B.C., and since then it has guided the practice of medicine. Variations of the oath are sworn at nonmedical school graduations. For example, the œNightingale Pledge  for nurses is an adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath and includes the phrase, œI will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will

Journal

Queue – Association for Computing Machinery

Published: Jun 1, 2004

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