[razzio]

That is an interesting distinction. Laws of physics are clearly a constraint to whatever is being engineered. In software development this sometimes plays a role too, more so on embedded and real-time systems. Real-time systems have a time constraints which is a law of physics and embedded software development has to incorporate memory, cpu and sometimes thermal constraints.

I do consider software for these systems closer to engineering, so you might be on to something. That doesn't mean I'd exclude other software development but the notions of (law of physics) constraints and predictable outcome are important factors.