Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur (an excerpt)
Source: https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/Naur.pdf
In a certain sense there can be no question of a theory modification, only of a program modification. Indeed, a person having the theory must already be prepared to respond to the kinds of questions and demands that may give rise to program modifications. This observation leads to the important conclusion that the problems of program modifications arise from acting on the assumption that programming consists of program text production, instead of recognizing programming as an activity of theory building.
On the basis of the Theory Building View the decay of a program text is a result of modifications made by programmers without a proper grasp of the underlying theory becomes understandable. As a matter of fact, if viewed merely as a change of the program text and of the external behavior of the execution, a given desired modification may usually be realized in many different ways, all correct. At the same time, if viewed in relation to the theory of the program these ways may look very different, some of them perhaps conforming to that theory or extending it in a natural way, while others may be wholly inconsistent with that theory, perhaps having the character of unintegrated patches on the main part of the program. This difference of character of various changes is one that can only make sense to the programmer who possesses the theory of the program. At the same time the character of changes made in a program text is vital to the longer term viability of the program. For a program to retain its quality it is mandatory that each modification is firmly grounded in the theory of it. Indeed, the very notion of qualities such as simplicity and good structure can only be understood in terms of the theory of the program, since they characterize the actual program text in relation to such program texts that might have been written to achieve the same execution behavior, but which exist only as possibilities in the programmer’s understanding.
Program Life, Death, and Revival
A main claim of the Theory Building View of programming is that an essential part of any program, the theory of it, is something that could not conceivably be expressed, but is inextricably bound to human beings. It follows that in describing the state of the program it is important to indicate the extent to which programmers having its theory remain in charge of it. As a way in which to emphasize this circumstance one might extend the notion of program building by notions of program life, death, and revival. The building of the program is the same as the building of the theory of it by and in the team of programmers. During the program life a programmer team possessing its theory remains in active control of the program, and in particular retains control over all modifications. The death of a program happens when the programmer team possessing its theory is dissolved. A dead program may continue to be used for execution in a computer and to produce useful results. The actual state of death becomes visible when demands for modifications of the program cannot be intelligently answered. Revival of a program is the rebuilding of its theory by a new programmer team.
The extended life of a program according to these notions depends on the taking over by new generations of programmers of the theory of the program. For a new programmer to come to possess an existing theory of a program it is insufficient that he or she has the opportunity to become familiar with the program text and other documentation. What is required is that the new programmer has the opportunity to work in close contact with the programmers who already possess the theory, so as to be able to become familiar with the place of the program in the wider context of the relevant real world situations and so as to acquire the knowledge of how the program works and how unusual program reactions and program modifications are handled within the program theory. This problem of education of new programmers is an existing theory of a program is quite similar to that of the educational problem of other activities where the knowledge of how to do certain things dominates over the knowledge that certain things are the case, such as writing and playing a music instrument. The most important educational activity is the student’s doing the relevant things under suitable supervision and guidance. In the case of programming the activity should include discussions of the relation between the program and the relevant aspects and activities of the real world, and of the limits set on the real world matters dealt with by the program.
A very important consequence of the Theory Building View is that program revival, that is reestablishing the theory of a program merely from the documentation, is strictly impossible. Lest this consequence may seem unreasonable it may be noted that the need for revival of an entirely dead program probably will rarely arise, since it is hardly conceivable that the revival would be assigned to new programmers without at least some knowledge of the theory had by the original team. Even so the Theory Building View suggests strongly that program revival should only be attempted in exceptional situations and with full awareness that it is at best costly, and may lead to a revived theory that differs from the one originally had by the program authors and so may contain discrepancies with the program text.
In preference to program revival, the Theory Building View suggests, the existing program text should be discarded and the new-formed programmer team should be given the opportunity to solve the given problem afresh. Such a procedure is more likely to produce a viable program than program revival, and at no higher, and possibly lower, cost. The point is that building a theory to fit and support an existing program text is a difficult, frustrating, and time consuming activity. The new programmer is likely to feel torn between loyalty to the existing program text, with whatever obscurities and weaknesses it may contain, and the new theory that he or she has to build up, and which, for better or worse, most likely will differ from the original theory behind the program text.
Method and Theory Building
…In comparing this notion of method with the Theory Building View of programming, the most important issue is that of actions or operations and their ordering. A method implies a claim that program development can and should proceed as a sequence of actions of certain kinds, each action leading to a particular kind of documented result. In building the theory there can be no particular sequence of actions, for the reason that a theory held by a person has no inherent division into parts and no inherent ordering. Rather, the person possessing a theory will be able to produce presentations of various sorts on the basis of it, in response to questions or demands.
As to the use of particular kinds of notations or formalization, again this can only be secondary issue since the primary item, the theory, is not, and cannot be, expressed, and so no question of the form of its expression arises.
It follows that on the Theory Building View, for the primary activity of the programming there can be no right method.
This conclusion may seem to conflict with established opinion, in several ways, and might thus be taken to be an argument against the Theory Building View. Two such apparent contradictions shall be taken up here, the first relating to the importance of method in the pursuit of science, the second concerning the success of methods as actually used in software development.
The first argument is that software development should be based on scientific manners, and so should employ procedures similar to scientific methods. The flaw of this argument is the assumption that there is such a thing as scientific method and that it is helpful to scientists. This question has been the subject of much debate in recent years, and the conclusion of such authors as Feyerabend [1978], taking his illustrations from the history of physics, and Medawar [1982], arguing as a biologist, is that the notion of scientific method as a set of guidelines for the practicing scientist is mistaken.
The second argument that may seem to contradict the dismissal of method of the Theory Building View is that the use of particular methods has been successful, according to published reports. To this argument it may be answered that a methodically satisfactory study of the efficacy of programming methods so far never seems to have been made. Such a study would have to employ the well established technique of controlled experiments (cf. [Brooks, 1980] or [Moher and Schneider, 1982]). The lack of such studies is explainable partly by the high cost that would undoubtedly be incurred in such investigations if the results were to be significant, partly by the problems of establishing in an operational fashion the concepts underlying what is called methods in the field of program development. Most published reports on such methods merely describe and recommend certain techniques and procedures, without establishing their usefulness or efficacy in any systematic way. An elaborate study of five different methods by C. Floyd and several co-workers [Floyd, 1984] concludes that the notion of methods as systems of rules that in an arbitrary context and mechanically will lead to good solutions is an illusion. What remains is the effect of methods in the education of programmers. This conclusion is entirely compatible with the Theory Building View of programming. Indeed, on this view the quality of the theory built by the programmer will depend to a large extent on the programmer’s familiarity with model solutions of typical problems, with techniques of description and verification, and with principles of structuring systems consisting of many parts in complicated interactions. Thus many of the items of concern of methods are relevant to theory building. Where the Theory Building View departs from that of the methodologists is on the question of which techniques to use and in what order. On the Theory Building View this must remain entirely a matter for the programmer to decide, taking into account the actual problem to be solved.
Programmers’ Status and the Theory Building View
…The raising of the status of programmers suggested by the Theory Building View will have to be supported by a corresponding reorientation of the programmer education. While skills such as the mastery of notations, data representations, and data processes, remain important, the primary emphasis would have to turn in the direction of furthering the understanding and talent for theory formation. To what extent this can be taught at all must remain an open question. The most hopeful approach would be to have the student work on concrete problems under guidance, in an active and constructive environment.
Conclusions
Accepting program modifications demanded by changing external circumstances to be an essential part of programming, it is argued that the primary aim of programming is to have the programmers build a theory of the way the matters at hand may be supported by the execution of a program. Such a view leads to a notion of program life that depends on the continued support of the program by programmers having its theory. Further, on this view the notion of a programming method, understood as a set of rules of procedure to be followed by the programmer, is based on invalid assumptions and so has to be rejected. As further consequences of the view, programmers have to be accorded the status of responsible, permanent developers and managers of the activity of which the computer is a part, and their education has to emphasize the exercise of theory building, side by side with the acquisition of knowledge of data processing and notations.
