Analysis on the evolution of the discourse on computer software and programming languages in the light of literary genres and POWER-KNOWLEDGE
Although much analyses have been performed on the collaborative nature of software development in papers (Bardram, 1997, Bardram et al., 1998a, Bardram et al., 1998bandBarthelmess and Anderson, 2002) with some of them in the perspective of Vygotskys 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 Foucaultdian 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 Bakhtins concept of literary genres and Foucaultdian concept of POWER-KNOWLEDGE.
discourse literary genres power-knowledge dialogism chronotope heteroglossia