Read Programming as Theory Building
Key takeaways
- Have you ever had a situation where you’re trying to explain something or say something, and you’re looking for a suitable word or term, but no matter how much you look for it, you can’t find it?
- That is, your primary goal as a programmer is to learn, understand, retain, improve and share this “theory” of the program.
- If you think of things like “good code” or “maintainable code”, what is it that comes to mind?
When I finished reading Peter Naur’s Programming as Theory Building my first thought was “How come nobody ever told me to read this?” I ended up reading it multiple times, as I attempted to collect my thoughts on why it makes so much sense.
Have you ever had a situation where you’re trying to explain something or say something, and you’re looking for a suitable word or term, but no matter how much you look for it, you can’t find it? I think Naur’s “theory” is that term when it comes to writing good code and creating maintainable software. I’ve had many ideas and thoughts on those topics, but they were all disparate concepts, which even when grouped together didn’t really answer the question “why is writing good software hard?” Viewing programming as “theory building”, as Naur puts it, is the missing piece that pulls all of it together and answers the question.
In summary, Programming as Theory Building suggests that the program code, documentation and other products are secondary to what programming really is about: Building an understanding, or a mental model, of the program, its requirements, and how they relate to everything around it. That is, your primary goal as a programmer is to learn, understand, retain, improve and share this “theory” of the program.