Abstract

The present discussion is a contribution to the understanding of what programming is. It suggests that programming properly should be regarded as an activity by which the programmers form or achieve a certain kind of insight, a theory, of the matters at hand. This suggestion is in contrast to what appears to be a more common notion, that programming should be regarded as a production of a program and certain other texts.

Quotes

This problem of education of new programmers in an existing theory of a program is quite similar to that of the educational prograblem of other activities where the knowledge of how to do certain things dominates over the knowledge that certain things are the case, such as writing and playing a music instrument. The most important educational activity is the student's doing the relevant things under suitable supervision and guidance. In the case of programming the activity should include discussions of the relation between the program and the relevant aspects and activities of the real world, and of the limits set on the real world matters dealt with by the program.

for the primary activity of the programming there can be no right method.

Notes

There are strong ties between this essay and Feyerabend's book "Against Method" (Feyerabend is cited in the article). See https://wiki.wellorder.net/wiki/against-method/