Comments on: Code Reads #11: “Notes on Postmodern Programming”

By: Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard » Blog Archive » Next up in Code Reads: Big Ball of Mud

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:25:16 +0000

[...] to the suggestion from Sam Penrose I’m going to go read “Big Ball of Mud,” which I hadn’t encountered before, [...]

By: Sam Penrose

Sam Penrose — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:34:42 +0000

I disliked this piece fairly intensely; it took me back to the Foucault/Derrida/etc. I read in college and see no reason ever to read again. Responding to it point by point would take a longer article than the piece itself. I’m commenting mainly to recommend “Big Ball of Mud”, which it references, for a future Code Read.

By: The Virtues of Proofreading » Skillful Software

The Virtues of Proofreading » Skillful Software — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:28:40 +0000

[...] task. But I’m afraid today I let them down – I misspelled Scott Rosenberg’s name in a trackback to his blog. Doh! So Scott, please accept my apologies. And Mrs. Smith, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Lancaster, [...]

By: Notes On Notes On Postmodern Programming » Skillful Software

Notes On Notes On Postmodern Programming » Skillful Software — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:52:55 +0000

[...] Code Read #11 from Scot Rosenberg deals with James Noble’s and Robert Biddle’s “Notes on Postmodern Programming”. [...]

By: Arnaud Bailly

Arnaud Bailly — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:21:49 +0000

Hello,
I personally read NPMP a few months ago and had the same feeling reading Noble and Biddle’s article than reading any post-modern philosopher’s work: You never know if this is pure crap, plain tautology or extremely profound thinking. This may be due to the particular shape most PM writers give to their writings (tried to read Derrida, and gave up :-)).

But the overall idea developed in the article is enthusiasming and perfectly fits my perception of our trade as software programmer. Software programming is dealing with language. This is obvious but the consequences you can draw from that point of view, once you accept the fact that a computer langaguage, and moreover a computer program (or source code fragment) is but a piece of written narration that talks about/acts upon the world have been addressed by critics theory, litterature, philosophy and most social sciences, but not by computer science: The Subject is everywhere and this has nothing to do with Engineering.

Arnaud

By: links for 2007-07-06 « Mike Does Tech

links for 2007-07-06 « Mike Does Tech — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:13:50 +0000

[...] Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard » Blog Archive » Code Reads #11: “Notes on Postmodern Programmingᾮ.. (tags: article postmodernism programming rosenberg) [...]

By: Andrew Sacamano

Andrew Sacamano — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:49:06 +0000

As the authors point out there is no great crisis of software – we have not collapsed under the weighty complexity of our collective IT creations. But that still does not mean all is roses. The power of the internet is not only that it is a diverse collection of heterogeneous systems, but that each “little narrative” happens in the context of the grand narratives of TCP/IP, HTML, and MP3.

Certainly we’re past the glory days of computing, when it seemed like everyone working in their garage was a Hercules destined for greatness. (And I by no means mean to belittle their profound achievements and vision.) But there are still grand narratives waiting to be told, and unifying themes waiting to emerge – just try to install new software on a Linux desktop, and you’ll long for a grand narrative.

And I believe these narrative will emerge, or perhaps evolve, for our postmodern bed of a hundred flowers. Some will be the work of single heroes slaying great dragons, and others will simply arise as whole villages look around and realize that their premier, best-in-breed dragon slaying machine is expensive and a lot of work to maintain, while the guys in the next village down the road have a dragon killer that is free, easy to use, and good enough.