I think you describe job specifics about being an engineer accurately. Setting aside trying to differentiate developers and engineers, I like to say a "good" engineer is replaceable. Meaning, if an engineer has done a good job, another "good" engineer can come in and take over. This concept doesn't really describe what an engineer does, but it creates a pseudo-litmus test for how to approach a problem.
In traditional engineering, like mechanical or chemical, change in the field happens slowly. Standardizing tasks has happened just because time has allowed for it. I think professional software development/engineering/whatever you call it is trending this way.
Example: I studied chemical engineering where we learned how to size a tank that would be pressurized containing some hydro-carbon. You pressurize it to keep as much of it liquid to minimize the tank size; now you have to figure out how thick the walls of the tank need to be to handle the desired pressure based on the expected liquid composition and volume, among other things.
Are you surprised if I say this was stuff chemical engineering programs cover in the last year of study? In the previous 3 years, topics include thermodynamics, physical/organic chemistry and other much more analytical, bookish things that outsiders consider chemical engineering to be about. In oil refining, where all the money is as an undergrad, they're paying you to size a tank.
If you consider the historical timeline of when these topics could be considered "understood", the way the course plan is laid out might make more sense. To roughly break it out, we understood a lot more about lab scale chemistry pre-20th century than we did about tank sizing. Tank sizing is really heuristic and fudge-factor driven. IIRC from our textbooks, a lot of these were lab determined in the 1930's and 40's. They basically built a tank with some thickness and size, then drew up a list of liquid compositions with different properties and starting measuring pressures. The plotted data would get curve fit and, viola, a formula for how to size a tank.
You can't use the formula without understand your liquid compositions, which doesn't really work if you don't understand thermodynamics and physical chemistry, but it is also really hard to use only thermodynamics and physical chemistry to figure out how to size a tank.
So if I were to say where software is today, it's that we haven't standardized how to size the metaphorical tank, where that tank could be, e.g. different data access permissions for hospital records?
Digital thermostats work on electrical resistance which is more accurate than bimetallic thermostats. Also bimetallic thermostats basically only switch at one temperature whereas most digital thermostats can handle a range. If you intend on using a kettle for both coffee and tea, that range is desired since the ideal temperatures between coffee and tea is quite significant.
I think the decision to focus on writing was very specific. She is trying to convince people that studying the humanities can/does create a very real skill, an argument that drives a lot of STEM advocates.
Personally, I see the value of humanities as how we (a society) got here and why. I think it's important, but I don't think I will have the opportunity to use this knowledge. I do not know all the author's thoughts, but I would guess that she was writing to what would generate the most appeal, not necessarily her exact thoughts.
If murder is a right, isn't nothing a right, since anyone can murder you in response to anything?
That's kind of the idea. What actions are you physically capable of? Once again, in the context of absolute freedom, what are you allowed to do (i.e. a right)? The thing is absolute freedom is a bit complicated especially given individual differences. Order/laws develop to facilitate interactions with other people.
As a aside, I think the American founding fathers' views of human rights was more that anything and everything is a fundamental right whether it is free speech or, on the other extreme, murder. However, since people have banded to form "society", to join society, a person would have to give up certain rights, e.g. the right to murder. So, depending on where you stand with respect to human rights, who should defend the right to bear arms, a person or a government?
One of the things he mentions about SC1, if I remember correctly is the limited number of units. If the possible composition of your army increases, more ways of using the army becomes available. This becomes a detriment because players spend more time exploring composition than actual strategy.
With regard to your point about automating behaviour, I think this is a more philosophical question. How much automation should an RTS have/allow? Given SC1's history as a mechanically intensive game, SC2 attempted to lower the basic skill level needed to reach a broader audience, but this demand is in constant struggle with the professional level of SC2.
On micromanagement, the SC2 community seems to regard this as the easiest way for an e-sports/SC2 newcomer to identify skill. Long-term strategies and the steps/timings that go into setting them up are fairly guarded secrets among professional players. While some can be particularly obvious, building a specific army at a specific time for a specific reason can be difficult to explain to a newcomer.
SC2 and SC1 certainly do not reflect a "real war," because experience seems to indicate an e-sports RTS requires elements that would not belong in a "real war." I think this is a philosophical decision and you might disagree with it. SC2 was an attempt to capture the popularity of SC1 for a broader audience, not just S. Korea. To do so, the developers attempted to incorporate the aspects that they thought would be most popular both to play and to watch.
In traditional engineering, like mechanical or chemical, change in the field happens slowly. Standardizing tasks has happened just because time has allowed for it. I think professional software development/engineering/whatever you call it is trending this way.
Example: I studied chemical engineering where we learned how to size a tank that would be pressurized containing some hydro-carbon. You pressurize it to keep as much of it liquid to minimize the tank size; now you have to figure out how thick the walls of the tank need to be to handle the desired pressure based on the expected liquid composition and volume, among other things.
Are you surprised if I say this was stuff chemical engineering programs cover in the last year of study? In the previous 3 years, topics include thermodynamics, physical/organic chemistry and other much more analytical, bookish things that outsiders consider chemical engineering to be about. In oil refining, where all the money is as an undergrad, they're paying you to size a tank.
If you consider the historical timeline of when these topics could be considered "understood", the way the course plan is laid out might make more sense. To roughly break it out, we understood a lot more about lab scale chemistry pre-20th century than we did about tank sizing. Tank sizing is really heuristic and fudge-factor driven. IIRC from our textbooks, a lot of these were lab determined in the 1930's and 40's. They basically built a tank with some thickness and size, then drew up a list of liquid compositions with different properties and starting measuring pressures. The plotted data would get curve fit and, viola, a formula for how to size a tank.
You can't use the formula without understand your liquid compositions, which doesn't really work if you don't understand thermodynamics and physical chemistry, but it is also really hard to use only thermodynamics and physical chemistry to figure out how to size a tank.
So if I were to say where software is today, it's that we haven't standardized how to size the metaphorical tank, where that tank could be, e.g. different data access permissions for hospital records?