Re: Philosphy of programming

From: Programmer Dude (Chris_at_Sonnack.com)
Date: 02/26/04 

Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:57:21 -0600

"William D. Tallman" wrote:

>> *IS* reality really in the mind of the beholder, or does it
>> exist [as] an external object to behold?
>
> It's the internal representation that is the reality.

Ah, we disagree, then. (And because this part of things is not
hugely on topic, I'm going to skip a lot. Those more interested
in programming aspects can skip down to [Programming])

>> The point is that our perceptions are pretty awful.
>
> Actually our perceptions, within their limitations, are
> pretty good.

I'm afraid I don't agree with that, either. For example, law
enforcement people are quite familiar with what bad witnesses
people make--no two will "see" the same thing.

Also, per Quantumosity, NONE of us is perceiving anything like
what's really there, and it's *possible* we all perceive what
we do perceive differently.

>> Yet what we may have in common about a 'thing' is only the
>> shared, learned identification of that thing.
>
> Our perceptions are generated by our physical bodies, and so
> I think we can expect them to be much more similar than
> different.

I'm not sure I agree. The wiring of the brain grows uniquely
in each individual. The connections are different--although
similar. I'd say the jury is still out big time on just how
common our internal experience really is.

> The point is that there are several levels of reality extant,
> and we take some of them for granted.

I would say there is one reality--dimly and individually
perceived.

> All internal presentations of an environment are realities,
> even the fantasies,...

Reality == Fantasy ??

Hmmmmmm...... doesn't work for me. (-:
I understand what you're saying, but I prefer other terminology.

[Programming]
>> ...how do you tie any of this into programming?
>
> I presented my take on how we [create models] in our daily
> lives. In real life, we have an ongoing iterative process
> where we check and adjust on a continuous basis, or we gamble
> that we can do so periodically.

I think a difference is that a lot of that is subconscious.
Programming should be much more intentional. (Actually, come
to that, what we do in life should be more intentional.)

> How about applying these to programming. I think that
> perhaps the notion of creating a test for the code in
> parallel with the code itself is akin to the reality
> check we ordinarily do.

(If that check is as intentional as TDD requires.) Yes, I like
that idea. Good comparison.

> I think that having several different teams taking different
> approaches at different points has advantages. I

If one can afford the resources, yes excellent.

> So, a definition of programming might do well to speak to
> these views as well. Maybe programming is getting a computer
> to perform as desired, to produce what is wanted from it.

I sometimes tell people my job is "Training Silicon Lifeforms"!

> Maybe programming is writing computer programs, and
> all the rest of this is just common sense;...

That, too. I doubt we can derive a one-liner (or even a para)
that fully describes--let alone defines--programming. 

-- 
|_ CJSonnack <Chris@Sonnack.com> _____________| How's my programming? |
|_ http://www.Sonnack.com/ ___________________| Call: 1-800-DEV-NULL  |
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