Structural 'discipline' is being practiced within many scientific fields. It implies that professionals develop standard methodologies which are followed by all. It allows for a science to be tought and applied at large scale. Discipline is in many cases the fruit of hundreds or even thousands of years of habitual practice. Computer Engineering is, comparetively, a very young science, but computer engineers have consciously and actively developed structural discipline in a relatively short time span, due to the pressing need to do so. Computer systems can not function without it because they depend on a broad eco-system incvluding many people. Due to the high complexity involved, structural discipline is absolutely essential in this field. Even the slightest deviation in hardware or software can cause incompatibility among parts and among systems. To stay on top of things computer engineers must cooperate to uphold discipline in design, prooduction, distribution, deployment, instruction, updating, repair, etc...
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