I don't know that I agree with all of this, but I'm definitely glad I read it. Thanks for posting.
Tom On 2014-02-28 12:53 PM, "Lawrence Bottorff" <borg...@gmail.com> wrote: > Back when I was younger (half an hour ago?) I would have been wowed by > this: http://youtu.be/_P9HqHVPeik which is Stephen Wolfram's intro into > his new Wolfram language. But what puts me (way) off is -- once again -- > I'm supposedly doing all these great things, but not with any sort of > accounting for what's being done. Kein Protokoll. No Story. > > The nature of functional programming is to build, Russian doll-style, > functions that use functions that use functions etc. But without something > like a literate style, your efforts are quickly lost in the details. You do > stuff -- and unless you have a phenomenal memory, you've simply dug a nice, > deep tunnel that is, at the same time, collapsing behind you. *You* may > know what you've done, but how to make others aware and get them involved? > All they see is some collapsed tunnel with a sales pitch about how you > should go re-dig that very same tunnel. > > Typically, with "software projects" you have hierarchical teams that plan > what the "project" is and what it will do and who will do what. Again, it's > just the tunneling with a bit less collapsing going on behind the actual > shoveling. So far, software is all about drilling into the problem, writing > a bunch of code, then flogging a group of users on how to use it. No Story. > Just tunneling, with varying degrees of tunnel passageway, depending on how > much effort is put into shoveling by coders and their users. But this is a > hopeless model that cannot scale. > > How many billions of lines of code are out there . . . basically lost to > everyone -- even the creator? Libraries, modules? Sure, and yet the whole > effort at Wolfram seems only to be taking librarian duties to the next > level. But still, where's The Story? Coding, solving problems needs a Story > to go along with it. I don't think computing will advance until The Story > is woven into the actual coding. Yes, functional is probably a step up from > OO, (Smalltalkers don't agree), but it still doesn't tell a Story. It's > just more powerful tunneling equipment. > > Humanity is The Big Story, which, in turn, is broken down into very many > sub-Stories. We're Story-oriented. Code so far is not. Code is like > networks of tunnels where, for all intents and purposes, most of the > tunneling has already collapsed, the tunnel paths mostly unknowable. What > makes me so excited about org mode is that it's the first time I've seen > literate programming move a tick up into the realm of actually creating a > tellable Story. > > At some point in the future, you will tell a Story. The Story may be how > you created an inventory system, or tracked moose in the wild. Others -- > human or machine -- on hearing your Story may then want to weave it into > their Stories. Now, what I see Wolfram doing is just making The Ultimate > Library, one with enough AI to obviate lots of library browsing. But > there's still no Story. org mode, however, has the rudiments of being able > to finally tell Stories. Ein schoenes Protokoll! Amen! > > Lawrence Bottorff > North Shore MN >
