Skip to content

Comment on Naur on Programming as Theory Building (1985) [pdf]parent

Comments

I also saw this (Naur's piece) linked to in that thread; thank you for submitting it, and it's rather a shame it didn't get many upvotes. It is definitely front-page worthy. I just sat down to read it, tonight.

And wow, what a treat it was. I thought I knew what is argument was going to be (that theory building is the primary task of programmers) — but the plot twist I did not see coming was the argument that it is inherently a part of the programmer's mind, and cannot be separated from the mind! And wow, was it well argued. Went in for a lesson in engineering, and got schooled in philosophy too.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.