What is Systems Programming, Really? | Will Crichton

A Systems Literacy Manifesto

In 1968, West Churchman wrote, “…there is a good deal of turmoil about the manner in which our society is run. …the citizen has begun to suspect that the people who make major decisions that affect our lives don’t know what they are doing.”[1] Churchman was writing at a time of growing concern about war, civil rights, and the environment. Almost fifty years later, these concerns remain, and we have more reason than ever “to suspect that the people who make major decisions that affect our lives don’t know what they are doing.” Examples abound.

Programming (with AI agents) as theory building

Back in 1985, computer scientist Peter Naur wrote “Programming as Theory Building”. According to Naur — and I agree with him — the core output of software engineers is not the program itself, but the theory of how the program works. In other words, the knowledge inside the engineer’s mind is the primary artifact of engineering work, and the actual software is merely a by-product of that.

The Systems Thinker

The Systems Thinker works to catalyze effective change by expanding the use of systems approaches. All articles are available free of charge in an effort to expose as wide of audience as possible. Browse, share with others, save your favorites and tell others about this valuable resource!

Summary: Thinking in Systems (by Donella H. Meadows)

The main argument of the book:  Everything in this world is made of systems. While we cannot fully understand systems, we can observe them…

Seth Etter / seth.computer

Notes on software and social systems

A small matter of programming: perspectives on end user computing

A Small Matter of Programming asks why it has been so d…

graham.systems | Offprint

Long-form, subject-related blogging from graham.systems

Sung Kim (@sungkim.bsky.social)

I like this quote on code review: "The idea that humans will reliably look through code to find the increasingly rare issues that automated tools miss seems like a fantasy." By Marc Brooker, AWS.

Convivial design heuristics for software systems

The theme of this workshop is the proliferation of ideas about calling into question the cultural roots of our current programming languages, and the search for alternative paradigms with other cultural bases.

Reality Blind - Vol. 1

Integrating the Systems Science Underpinning Our Collective Futures

A quote from Andrew Quinn

One could say in the first quarter-century of my life, that while I was always fascinated by programming, I could never overcome the guilt of not really knowing whether the …

LOOPY!

a tool for thinking in systems