Michael A. Jackson is fascinated by the fundamental question: What is software engineering? Jackson reflects on the constituents of software development. He contrasts the views of Edsger Dijkstra, Tony Hoare, Donald Knuth, Peter Naur, David Parnas, Christopher Strachey, Pamela Zave, and others. Some of the many interrelated topics that come to the fore are software malleability, program transformation systems, and the history of automobile engineering.