[mantap]

Maybe we should take all this "not science" software away from the scientists and see how much science they can do without it.

If you write code that allows science to be done that couldn't be done otherwise then that is science. As a high profile example, a large amount of specialist software was developed for the LHC to allow it to process all the events coming from the detectors.

It sounds like the refactoring here was not really that useful in the first place.

[throwaway-wroc]

yes, in 2020 you mostly cannot do science without software, electricity, desks and chairs and buildings, printers, pick your own irreplaceable tool. yet building these things to enable research is emphatically not itself scientific research.

doing a phd -> training to be a scientist.

[mantap]

Printers? Desks? Take your strawmen somewhere else.

[fooker]

Since you brought up LHC, here is an anecdote.

I worked on software development tools used directly for LHC as part of an internship.

That experience was of zero use when I tried to apply for a PhD later. It did get me several $BIGN internships though.

Make what you want of this story.