The Quixotic Engineer

As part of the Software Engineering curriculum, I was required to take “Principles of Electrical Engineering” this semester. This is a mandatory course for all engineers at Concordia, so the class was full of people working in a somewhat unfamiliar domain. It was a tough course, but fortunately I had a good background in electromagnetism from my pure & applied science Cégep degree (Cégep is pre-university in Quebec.)

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The Major’s Response – Cover Artists:

Despite rock ‘n’ roll’s widespread success across America, the major record labels were initially mostly uninterested in this new phenomenon. Indeed, until 1955, the independent labels had a “virtual monopoly” on rock ‘n’ roll artists¹. They were the leaders in the rhythm and blues market, and when rock ‘n’ roll took off they simply had to: “modify the arrangements, simplify the beat, and promote rhythm and blues as rock ‘n’ roll.²”

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Technology and Teenagers:

Before further examining how rock ‘n’ roll brought the races together, it is important to retrace the convergence of certain economic and technological factors which gave white teenagers access to music.

The major label’s lack of interest in the specialty markets may have been largely due to the fact that, until the fifties, recorded music carried the label of class¹. Only the upper and upper-middle class could afford a phonograph, and their tastes encompassed big band, crooners and classical music. Country and rhythm and blues music was mainly enjoyed on the radio.

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Preface:

Rockin’ The Boat: Rock ‘n’ Roll and Race Relations in the Fifties was the extended essay I wrote in my last year of Cégep. The topic of the essay was at our discretion, and I was a young man who wanted to write about rock ‘n’ roll. Being a science student, I had studied neither sociology, history nor music but decided to write in an unfamiliar domain anyways. I consider the result to be one of the strongest and most well-researched pieces of work I have ever written (which isn’t saying much, really.) Being in the middle of exams and a little pressed for writing time, I thought I would split the essay into three parts and share it here.

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I’ve been following a very interesting thread on the skrud.net forums recently about the role of formal documentation in the software process. In it, Dr. Constantinos Constantinides interjected with some sound arguments in favor of formal documentation. I thought he presented a very persuasive defense of an aspect of software design that is often maligned by undergraduate students. Because the thread in question requires forum registration to read, I sought his permission to reproduce the arguments here

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