The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age

by David M. Berry

This book is a critical introduction to code and software that develops an understanding of its social and philosophical implications in the digital age. Written specifically for people interested in the subject from a non-technical background, the book provides a lively and interesting analysis of these new media forms.

Genres: Philosophy, Computer Science, Programming

211 pages, Hardcover

First published March 23, 2011

Reviews

[Thy Duong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciate tons of examples he has given as reference to his statements. Since it is dated back to 2011, some knowledge in tech might be old-dated.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

political philosophy arguing code as social function of human behavior and institutions, powering large companies :)

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some thoughtful observations on how the use of software differs fundamentally from other tools, but David Berry's understanding of software is pretty rooted in the late-90's. For example, he valorizes close-to-the-metal C programming and calls object-oriented programming a "fundamentally Taylorist" mode of production. That dismissal is a bummer, because I think modern programmers do some of their most interesting philosophical work when domain modeling (whether using OO or functional techniques): I think any exercise in domain modeling amounts to constructing the ontology of the business problem being solved.

I didn't fully digest the later chapters on this reading (lots of references to Heidegger!), but I think he did a decent job of capturing the experience of using software as an end user.

[Alexander Svanholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a "pleasure" reading Berry's book. I think it's an aspiring book as it really tries to turn attention to the meaning that code and software in general assume as part of society. I did, however, disagree with a lot of his remarks, e.g., he calls Object-Oriented programming a "Taylorist technique" (pp. 40), which is utterly ridiculous. Sometimes it feels like the varied information that he presents is somewhat arduous to digest. At times I found myself bewildered by the multiple definitions of software/code - prescriptive? (pp. 32), running (pp. 32+94-) and crystallised code? (pp. 39). Despite some difficulties with explaining, Berry fantastically delivers an analysis of new media forms. What the book is in need of is a theoretical discussion of how software really interacts with different kinds of societies...

[Donia]

Read "The Idea of Code" and "What is Code" for Advanced theories of Communication.