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Widdershin / programmers-oath

An oath for programmers, comparable to the Hippocratic Oath
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The computer is an infinite machine .. #53

Open seclorum opened 6 years ago

seclorum commented 6 years ago

for human beings .. I will strive to promote it as a machine with infinite application by human beings.

Widdershin commented 6 years ago

I'm sorry, I don't think I understand this proposed tenet.

Could you please give examples of behaviour this tenet would restrict or encourage?

seclorum commented 6 years ago

Any human subject can be computerised - there is an infinity of subjects to which a computer can be applied, in some way. The intent of this tenet is to validate the fact that programmers have a responsibility to ensure that, whatever the subject, the power of computing is applied to the human issue. To treat the computer as only being 'specially applicable to only some subjects' is to denigrate the reach and power of computing as a human technical tool; innovation happens when something is picked from the infinite, computerised, and made available to improve the lives of ones fellow human beings.

I believe this is a worthwhile oath, because it keeps the door open for new and exciting applications of computing. To violate this oath, is to devalue the interaction between humans and computers. Being always open to the ways of the infinite, good programmers push humanity forward.

Widdershin commented 6 years ago

Thanks for the elaboration. I think I need to mull this one over a bit.

mo-g commented 6 years ago

Isn't this more or less a rewording of your previous suggestion about serving humanity instead of the other way around?