In publishing geek-speak, a grabber is that little blurb you read on the front page of an e-zine. You clicked on a link in the grabber to get here for this article. Its purpose is to make you so eager to read the article that you'll fork over the cash for a membership. Apparently, it worked. (grin)

I heard the phrase from Kent Holm: "The science known as mechanics."

There is a raging debate within the scientific, engineering, and computer communities about a handful of terms and titles and how they relate, or don't, to my day job as a software engineer. We study computer science; we engineer software solutions; programming is an artistic pursuit. But the other scientists don't like the term "computer scientist." The other engineers bristle when we call ourselves "software engineers." And we're just too geeky for the artists.

Why do I bring up this extraneous and esoteric argument in an officiating magazine? Because the germane points from that debate can help us better understand the true nature of officiating mechanics and how we can make the best use of them.

Continued...