Scientific terms in context of software dev: Empirical, Hypothesis, Objective etc.
While my interest is in practical software development and not computer science per se, in technical discussions sometimes scientific terms come in. Note that I am a software technologist but did study Physics and am a Physics graduate. This post captures an exchange with Google Search AI (GSAI) on these terms. Me: Give me crisp and clear definitions of empirical, hypothesis and (scientific) theory in the context of software development. GSAI: Here are the definitions of empirical, hypothesis, and theory tailored for the software development context. 1. Empirical (Evidence-Based Software Engineering) Definition: Decisions, processes, or validation methods based on direct, measurable observation and real-world experience rather than theory, opinion, or intuition. Context: Using actual project data (e.g., git logs, JIRA metrics, user engagement, A/B test results) to validate if a tool, methodology, or code change actually improves productivity or quality. Examp...