Realising software development as a lived experience

Abstract

This essay discusses software development from the perspective of Empirical Modelling (EM) [4], an approach to computing that draws on the construals of David Gooding [52], Bruno Latour's vexing notion of construction [70] and William James's radical empiricism [63]. It argues that effective software development must embrace semantic principles radically different from those endorsed by the traditional perspective on software that is based on computational thinking. Of paramount importance is the immediacy of the developer's experience of the relationship between software as an artefact on the computer and software as an agency in the world.