Advent of System Seeing: Day 17
I Have a Theory About This!
Pick some area of this situation you want to explore in terms of "I have a theory about this" -- that is, I have explanations for the behaviors of the system here. Describe your theory, using diagrams and words (and code, if relevant).
“a person who has or possesses a theory in this sense knows how to do certain things and in addition can support the actual doing with explanations, justifications, and answers to queries, about the activity of concern.”
— Peter Naur, Programming as Theory Building, 1985
https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/Naur.pdf
@RuthMalan That scan, by the way, is from Alistair Cockburn’s wonderful book “Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game”.
@glv Oh good point!! And I believe @totheralistair ”rescued it” from disappearing.
@RuthMalan @glv
unknown backstory : I was talking to Peter Naur in Copenhagen (soooo happy to meet him in person what a treat) and asked permission to reprint it - he said he and the publisher had an altercation and he didn't want to deal with them --- somehow I brokered whatever was needed (can't recall) so nobody got hurt and they all ok'd it :)
That is such a foundational article, I quote it all the time, glad it is still "relatively easy" to find.
p.s. the other two appendices in that book are likewise. Def pls go read them.
