The idea of patterns originated in architecture back in 1977
The equivalent of TDD was being used in manufacturing industry as part of Just In Time and Total Quality back in the 1980s
Paul Graham has famously linked Hackers and Painters
My question is this, what are your favourite ideas and techniques that we can use from other fields. For instance I'm thinking that engineers know a lot about project management.
BTW this is programming related ....
The irony is you're asking people who are all in the same field -- programming.
Back of the envelope calculations come from physics and engineering and are a valuable software tool.Using small and rough prototypes comes from engineering too.
Any knowledge of psychology is always a big help when it comes to application design, particularly UI design. The products we make aren't just magical black-boxes of functionality, they're "tangible" tools that real people need to both use and relate to. At the very least, it's some great sensitivity training :) Minimize user frustrations while you make it work.
Writing is also a very useful skill to have as an Application developer, even if you yourself won't necessarily be writing the copy. Being able to clearly and concisely convey what you mean in emails, documentation, and presentations makes the job so much easier and will help breed the kind of communication with those non-programmers you're doing this all for in the first place. When users and managers open up, confusion melts away.
Well, obviously mathematics greatly influenced programming - think e.g. John von Neumann or Alan Turing.