The Principals of 'Pataphysical Programming

http://www.illposed.com/philosophy/pataprogramming.html

by senki • 16 years ago

22 13 16 years ago

mattdw2• 16 years ago

The article doesn't get very concrete, and given the origins of "'pataphysics" as parody I'm not sure how seriously to take this.

On the other hand, treating software systems as realities in their own right – with only incidental mappings back to our reality – is a fascinating idea. (Obviously an entirely self-contained reality is no good; I/O are pretty fundamental.) I guess the question is, what happens when we stop requiring software model things, and instead let it be things?

skermes• 16 years ago

Based on the prose examples the article gives (the chess/lunch story and the crucifixion/bike race story), it looks like a truly 'pataphysical system wouldn't need IO at all. Instead, you'd have a program of some sort, that was simultaneously doing 'pataphysical computation and mundane computation. In the story of Jesus and the bike race, the narrative never shifts between the story of racing up the hill and the story of Jesus being killed on a cross, the story is both at the same time throughout. By analogy, I suspect the article would like us to consider what kind of system we'd need to construct in order to, I suppose, be a story about a bike race (or something else equally removed from programmer's usual domain) and an application to serve web pages at the same time.

Of course, given 'pataphysic's status as "the science of imaginary solutions" I won't be holding my breath for a 'pataprogrammatical Rails-killer anytime soon, but it's a fun idea.

stcredzero• 16 years ago

I won't be holding my breath for a 'pataprogrammatical Rails-killer anytime soon

What, Django doesn't count? (ducks)

joe_the_user• 16 years ago

A "pataphysical program" would be an object diagram which took on a life of its own, loosing all touch with possible implementations, with considerable documentation, a CVS tree, a length license agreement, etc...

mattdw2• 16 years ago

I did have the thought that if OO is clearly metaphorical, it could be argued that all abstractions within the program are 'pataphysical. That is, we can say "an agent sends a message to another agent" or "the function passes control to the current continuation", and we're actually describing concrete reality in program-land, rather than metaphors for real-world objects.

In that sense, 'pataphysical programming might be more common than we realize.

gwern• 16 years ago

The footnote is broken; you can find a copy at http://web.archive.org/web/20080311215730/http://www.pataphy...

swombat• 16 years ago

Principles.

senki• 16 years ago

Principal principles.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/principal.html

iamwil• 16 years ago

This doesn't make any sense to me. Either there's some assumption about self I don't get, or they're just making shit up. Cuz after reading that, I'm. No closer to reproducing it.

sz• 16 years ago

I think it's a joke.

j_baker• 16 years ago

Somewhat off-topic: What does the Chief Philosopher of a software company do? And how do I get that job?

tjarratt• 16 years ago

If you start your own company, you can give yourself any title you like.

edit: That doesn't mean people will refer to you as such, or respect you, but that's a different issue altogether.

On topic, a Chief Philosopher probably would serve a role between product manager and evangelist.

scott_s• 16 years ago

I'm running into Poe's Law here: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law

The Principals of 'Pataphysical Programming

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