I was discussing with my roommate whether or not Computer Science is a profession. He suggested it's not a profession like engineering, law, or medicine, because it doesn't have a code of ethics that is enforced by a professional body (ACM doesn't count).
I suggested that we have a distributed code of ethics that is codified in a massive distributed system, but that if you asked grisled computer scientists they would agree on many of these points:
* When something stands in the way of the people, hack around it.
* Edit: Do it right the first time.
* Edit: Don't do it unless you have to.
* Whoever can do the work should be able to do it.
* It should be fun. Just do the awesome things.
* Leave breadcrumbs for those behind you.
* Edit: Make things that create surpluses for all of us.
I am not quite yet a grisled computer scientist, but those were my first thoughts. Please propose additions/revisions/replacements.
I don't think that something like "Don't be evil" really belongs on the list, because it's meaningless. It exists only as a cloud of more specific shared beliefs.
In the end, I agreed with him that Computer Science is not a profession because no one credentials us. Our status as a computer scientist is between us and our reckoner.
... And I maintain that there is an equivalence there.
I suggested that we have a distributed code of ethics that is codified in a massive distributed system, but that if you asked grisled computer scientists they would agree on many of these points:
* When something stands in the way of the people, hack around it.
* Edit: Do it right the first time.
* Edit: Don't do it unless you have to.
* Whoever can do the work should be able to do it.
* It should be fun. Just do the awesome things.
* Leave breadcrumbs for those behind you.
* Edit: Make things that create surpluses for all of us.
I am not quite yet a grisled computer scientist, but those were my first thoughts. Please propose additions/revisions/replacements.
I don't think that something like "Don't be evil" really belongs on the list, because it's meaningless. It exists only as a cloud of more specific shared beliefs.
In the end, I agreed with him that Computer Science is not a profession because no one credentials us. Our status as a computer scientist is between us and our reckoner.
... And I maintain that there is an equivalence there.