Analysis on the evolution of the discourse on computer software and programming languages in the light of literary genres and POWER-KNOWLEDGE

摘要

Although much analyses have been performed on the collaborative nature of software development in papers (Bardram, 1997; Bardram, 1998a, 1998b; Barthelmess & Anderson, 2002) with some of them in the perspective of Vygotsky's Activity theory, less focus has been given on the discursive evolution of software as different 'Genres'. In this article we will investigate discursive formation of software and the programming languages in course of time driven by increased 'Activities', 'Dialogue' and 'Power' exercised by certain user groups and entities which will complement our efforts with Activity theory and Fou-caultdian POWER-KNOWLEDGE. We will show that POWER relation is affecting user preferences, choices and activities, which are producing changes in the programming languages and creating new software genres. We have borrowed the term 'Genre' from the literary studies of Bakhtin and applying it for software. The way different coexisting social classes in a specific time in history leave their fingerprints in different speech and text-genres, we claim that similar mechanisms exist in the software world. We will show that a modern software system is developing improved 'Dialogism' or'Intertextuality', 'Chronotope' 'Heteroglossia' and forming its own discourse. Our presentation is heavily dependent on Mikhail Bakh-tin's concept of literary genres and Foucaultdian concept of POWER-KNOWLEDGE.