The practices of programming

Abstract

© 2016 IEEE.How diverse are the ways that programming is done? While a variety of accounts exist, each appears in isolation, neither framed in terms of a distinct practice, nor as one of many such practices. In this work we explore accounts spanning software engineering, bricolage/tinkering, sketching, live coding, code-bending, and hacking. These practices of programming are analyzed in relation to ongoing research, and in particular HCI's 'practice turn', offering connections to accounts of practice in other contexts than programming. The conceptualization of practice helps to interpret recent interest in program code as craft material, and also offers potential to inform programming education, tools and work as well as future research.