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also, my sensors are cued to this b/c as i expl'd to peter, this is one
of
the fundamental signs of an unorganized set of practices (an art)
becoming
professionalized and formalized. i'm not blowing smoke here--this is
well
documented in the literature. to make this critique is not to render
the
object of critique insignificant, sinister, or even disingenuous. it
is
to point out the contradictions and problems with the discourse and to
make
connections and analogies with other examples in recent history to ask,
"what direction is this taking? what's at stake? who has a stake?"
etc.
>
Here, we are in agreement, and this paragraph is the heart of the matter. In the last post you referenced Noble's _America by Design_. Indeed. That is exactly the case of the programmer in my career. I would also cite Joan Greenbaum's _In the Name of Efficiency_, (about 1980) which is in the same vein, but very specific to programmers.
IMO, the reason corporations want to make programming into software engineering from art is the issue of who owns the work. The work is at once both art and property; art for me and property to the corporation.
I once was pulled off code I considered very important to the product, and forced to insert copyright statements into the source and object of every module:
(C) XYZ Corp, 1985 and then it hit me. My God, this is a claim of *ownership*!
No wonder this mindless work was more important than what I believed in.
I always considered the code mine, somehow. I was proud of the product, I wanted it to succeed, if only management would let me. And here I was in mindless work refuting my own feelings. It sure took the wind out of my sails.
So long as it is art, there is a moral ownership the artisan has to the product as opposed to the legal ownership the corporation has to the property. In my career, I saw programmers changed from artists or artisans to software engineers. First in school, where students are attracted by a well-paying job, not by work they love. If you succeed in school by getting a CS degree, you have proven that you can complete assignments you do not enjoy, which is the perfect qualification for working in a corporation.
The issue is, who owns the work.
-- John K. Taber