~If What We Made Were Real: Against Imperialism and Cartesianism in Computer Science, and for a discipline that creates real artifacts for real communities, following the faculties of real cognition~
Antranig Basman
Abstract: I argue that we have not yet succeeded in constructing any real software, but merely simulations or cardboard prototypes of software…
PPIG 2017 - 28th Annual Workshop
ppig.org/papers/2017-ppig-28th-basman
Not new, but new to me. Indeed PPIG seems to be a goldmine
An inspiring video: Mobile Pen-based Computing (1992). 1hr 3 min.
In the conference recording, Terry Winograd demos the PenPoint OS, a mobile operating system focused on the "notebook interface". This is around the time PDA's and Apple Newton were on the radar.
Pete McBreen's Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative (2002).
Most of the book is about the consequences of distinguishing between "software engineering" (defined as armies of programmers going down a waterfall) and "software craftsmanship" (defined as small teams working incrementally). He runs deep with the craftsman metaphor, taking seriously how to make real the "apprentice" and "journeyman" stages in a software developer's career.
One interesting thread is that he points out how "best practices" are firmly a creation of the software engineering side of his binary, and do not satisfy craftspeople's very different trade-offs. Some by nature will wind around on their own path, custom-fitting each architectural decision to their preferences and the needs of the specific project.
There is overlap with our 💬 #thinking-together@2023-12-30T13:04:55.921Z, exploring Jack Rusher's ontology of [programming, computer science, software engineering]. It seems useful to me to further distinguish the "strong S.E." that Jack and McBreen use as definitional from the "soft S.E." which we all seem to use colloquially to mean all manner of techniques for making an application error-resistant. The work of the latter may not be intellectually engaging or novel but it lacks the qualities which make strong SE distasteful: centralization of power, treating developers interchangeably, the urge towards monoculture, a cultural belief in "training" instead of learning.
This is toward the top of my reading list for new developers on my team.
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See initial discussion here. All are welcome to join!
Feel free to add books to the poll and vote for as many as you'd like. I added a couple to get us started. Once we choose a book we can settle on a time to meet.
I used the free version of Slack's poll app, which has some restrictions: 100 response limit per month, can’t send in thread (only channel), can’t edit a poll, etc. Let's see how it goes, and later we can consider switching to another polling app or simply a message with emoji reactions. These are the poll settings I chose:
NoYesSelect many optionsIn real-time to everyoneNoNoNoI'd welcome any suggestions on poll settings or other housekeeping items. Excited to read together!
Tagging everyone who liked the original message: @Stephen De Gabrielle @Jasmine Otto Jimmy Miller @Alex McLean @Jos Yule @Ben Scofield Christopher Galtenberg @Justin Janes
We can give it a week or so to nominate and vote, then we can start reading and pick a time to meet 🙂
Just posting resources - worrydream.com/refs/Papert%20-%20Mindstorms%201st%20ed.pdf
Can others see the Add option button on the poll? Just want to make sure I'm not the only one who can nominate!