(socio-technical devices) acts to perform the network form (Callon 2007).
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (63) 20130911a 0 -1+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Code located within material devices form technical devices; Hayles MSA-compatible definition of code as computational logic located within material devices. (63) we need to bring to the fore how code is computational logic located within material devices which I will call technical devices.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (64) 20130911b 0 -9+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Realization of importance of finding good examples, not necessarily instructional because they may be tedious; similar difficulty to presenting examples in scholarly and scientific writing. (64) One of the biggest problems with trying to understand code is finding the right kinds of examples to illustrate this discussion so here I will present some examples of code that will make the code more visible and show why reading code is useful. . . . I also want to avoid a tedious programming lesson in what can soon become a rather dry subject of discussion. . . . Secondly, I have tried to be clear that when one is discussing code one should be aware that snippets of code can be difficult to understand when taken out of context and often require the surrounding documentation to make sense of it.
3 3 1 (+) [-6+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (65-66) 20130911c 0 -13+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Latour trial of strength related to software engineering test case; locate materiality in trial of strength legitimation practices as opposite of atemporal perfect state of code that appears in a textbook to demonstrate an algorithm or to be reduced to mathematical forms such as lambda calculus, logical notation, or UTM. (65-66) To locate the materiality of code, I develop Latourƒs (1988) notion of ƒtrial of strengthƒ introduced in Irreductions. . . . An overriding requirement is the obligation to specify the type of strength that is involved in a specific test and to arrange a testing device. . . . The notion of a test of strength is also similar to the idea of a ƒtest caseƒ in software engineering, which is a single problematic that can be proved to be successful, and therefore designates the code free from that error or problem. . . . To be included in a particular ƒsociety of codeƒ then, the code must be legitimated (realized) through a series of tests.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (66) 20130911d 0 -1+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Uses computer programming contests to situate his discussion of tests of strength; could also apply tests of strength to facticity of FOSS development communities for this validation. (66) It is only after this point that the prototyping and testing phases really begins and code is written, but it remains an iterative process to construct the detailed structure and content of the required software systems.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (67) 20130911e 0 -1+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Software development life cycle from requirements and design to alpha, beta, release candidate and gold master; note emphasizing concrete design work in life cycle reflects the hard mastery programming style at the opposite pole of which Turkle presents the bricoleur style. (67) Each step creates physical entities (e.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (97) 20130911l 0 -2+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Compare analysis of running code to network layer model. (97) When we analyze running code, we clearly have to face the different levels at which code is running, which we can imagine as a number of different planes or levels for analysis. We might consider that they are made up of: (i) hardware; (ii) software; (iii) network; (iv) everyday.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (97) 20130911m 0 -5+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Clock-based computers are the norm; this introduction could be broadened to define the stored program, fetch and execute sequential binary computer, that is, von Neumann architecture to make better sense of temporality and spatiality. (97) For machine code to execute requires that a single actor conducts the entire process, this is the ƒclockƒ that provides the synchronicity which is key to the functioning of computer systems. . . . However, all parts of the system need to be operating according to the master clock speed if things are to be delivered to the right place at the right time.
3 3 1 (+) [-6+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (98) 20130911n 0 -2+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Global address space implies mediation by networks and other processes to yield the illusion of linear spatial memory. (98) Another curious feature of code is that it relies on a notion of spatiality that is formed by the peculiar linear form of computer memory and the idea of address space. As far as the computer is concerned memory is a storage device which could be located anywhere in the world.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (113) 20130911p 0 -1+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Include issue tracking, news feeds and forums among FLOSS cultural objects besides voting machinery. (113) We might think here of the relation between the ability to read the structures and processes of the voting system as presented in the FLOSS source code as transparent e-voting as opposed to the dark e-voting which is given in proprietary systems.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (114) 20130911q 0 -6+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Subject position of user in voting machinery; contrast system-centric, idealized voter to user-centric design (Norman, Johnson, Barker). (114) As we discuss below, this idealized voter constantly seeps into the source code in a number of interesting ways, captured in the shorthand used in the commentary code and documentation. Although here we do not have the space to go into the interesting gender assumptions that are being made, they demonstrate how programming commentary is important to analyze and take into account as part of the assemblage that makes up running software systems.
(115) in the particularly discourse of computer programming one notes the key dichotomy creates between the programmer and the user, with the user being by definition the less privileged subject position. The term user also carries a certain notion of action, most notably the idea of interactivity, that is that the user ƒinteractsƒ with the running software interface in particular circumscribed ways. (116) A revealing moment by the programmer in this example, demonstrates that a particular gender bias is clearly shown when the programmer refers to the request of the ƒvoterƒ to challenge ƒhisƒ vote.
(116) Perhaps even more interesting, is the inability of the user-voter to cast a spoilt ballet, whether as an empty ballot, or a ballot that has more than one candidate selected.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (117) 20130911r 0 -3+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Software makes docile voters (users); e-voting and so many other social transactions and networks depend Latour immovable mobiles that are doubly mediated by computer technologies where data seems immaterial but is always instantiated in something. (117) Secondly, the voter must now rely on the correct inscription of their vote within the material substrates of the computer software and hardware and these represent what Latour (2007) called ƒimmovable mobilesƒ, that is that the vote remains stabilized throughout its passage from the booth to the data collection systems (the supervisor in this case) and then on to when it is expressly counted. In the case of paper, there is always a paper trail, that is the vote can always be followed through the process by the human eye. In the case of software, the vote is encrypted and signed, such that this digital signature can indicate whether the vote has been changed or tampered with, however, once cast into the digital the only way to follow the vote is through its mediation through other software tools.
3 3 1 (+) [-4+]mCQK berry-philosophy_of_software (119) 20130911t 0 -3+ progress/2012/06/notes_for_berry-philosophy_of_software.html
Bernard Stiegler interpretation of Heidegger, Simondon platform, and Wilfred Sellars phenomenology: materiality of code as it is tied to phenomena, whether prescriptively creating it or being part of it, must be understood in terms of not only its potentialities as a force, but also as a platform, only ever partially withdrawn (unreadiness-to-hand). (119) I want to explore the idea that technology is actually only ever partially forgotten or ƒwithdrawnƒ, forcing us into a rather strange experience of reliance, but never complete finesse or virtuosity with the technology.
(119-120) I want to develop the argument that we should not underestimate the ability of technology to act not only as a force, but also as a ƒ