Chapter 27. Software as Knowledge

I don't often dive deep into the philosophical underpinnings of my writings, but I've been realizing more and more that there are a few philosophical principles behind my ideas that it would be valuable to share. So that's what this chapter is about.

Also, some of these philosophies weren't fully formed until I sat with the work for a long time, applied it in a lot of situations, and talked about it with many people. This particular idea – a theory that I have developed over time about how software can be thought of and worked with in the mind – has sort of been percolating with me for quite a while now. It's time to get at least part of it out on paper. So here you go.

Software is, fundamentally, a solid object that is made of knowledge. It follows all the rules and laws of knowledge. It behaves exactly as knowledge behaves in just about any given situation, except that it's in concrete form.

For example...