[bc569a80a344f9c]

I don’t know. We could look for some other word to encode “often sub-conscious though sometimes explicit heuristics developed by long periods of experiencing the consequences of specific trade-offs” but “taste” seems like a pretty good one because it’s quite intuitive.

There often - usually? - are more than one good solution and more than one path to success, and I don’t find calling different good engineers making different choices primarily because of their past experiences an egregious misuse of language.

[saltcured]

I think you are going after something that is more an element of craftsmanship than engineering, and I agree it is a big part of real world software development. And, not everyone practices it the same way! It's more of a gestalt perception and thinking process, and that instinctual aspect is colored by culture and aesthetics.

In my career, I've always felt uncomfortable with people conflating software development with engineering. I think software has other humans as the audience more so than traditional engineered products. Partly this may be the complexity of software systems, but partly it is how software gets modified and reused. There isn't the same distinction between the design and the product as in other domains.

Other domains have instances of a design and often the design is tweaked and customized for each instance for larger, complex products. And, there is a limited service life during which that instance undergoes maintenance, possible refurbishing, etc. Software gets reused and reformed in ways that would make traditional engineers panic at all the uncertainties. E.g. they would rather scrap and rebuild, and rely on specialists to figure out how to safely recycle basic materials. They don't just add more and more complexity to an old building, bridge, airplane, etc.