Freethinking and free inquiry about software creation

I very much enjoy computer programming. I also enjoy reading authors that talk about it from diverse perspectives. Just as much as practicing philosophy and reading whoever author that talks about philosophy — taken as the basic human impulse to go deeper into what causes doubt and wonder.

So far, I would say that some mechanical and tedious tasks related to computer programming are no longer a major challenge because we now have a lot of good tools helping with those tasks. On the other hand, the intellectual challenge of computer programming remains as a major challenge even today. Of course, now many good lessons are at reach, lessons from thought and experience of the last seven decades. But the intellectual challenge of non-trivial software endeavors remains in the category of major intellectual challenges.

Freethinking and free inquiry about the historical development of software creation is still worthwhile: which theses –or which aspects of them–by original authors are still current? How far I am able to articulate now those main theses of the field?

«At the time I was being groomed to become a very good theoretical physicist, but in 1955 that training was aborted when I decided to become a programmer instead. Not suffering from excessive modesty, I had what I considered a very good reason: I had concluded that programming presented a greater challenge than theoretical physics.» — Under the spell of Leibniz’s Dream. Prof.dr Edsger W.Dijkstra.

«I felt that my problems as a programmer were for a large portion beyond the scope of what Polya covered. At first I hesitated to say so aloud, because stressing the exceptional nature of the one’s field is usually a sure way of making oneself utterly ridiculous. But after careful consideration I concluded that the intellectual challenge presented by the programming task is, indeed, as unprecedented as the high-speed automatic computer itself.» — “Craftsman or Scientist?” prof.dr.Edsger W.Dijkstra.