Semiotics of Programming

This book provides a semiotic analysis of computer programs along three axes: models of signs, kinds of signs, and systems of signs. Because computer programs are well defined and rigid, applying semiotic theories to them will help to reorganize the semiotic theories themselves. Moreover, semiotic discussion of programming theory can provide possible explanations for why programming has developed as it has and how computation is fundamentally related to human semiosis. The goal of this book is to consider the question of what computers can and cannot do, by analyzing how computer sign systems compare to those of humans. A key concept throughout is reflexivity - the capability of a system or function to reinterpret what it has produced by itself. Sign systems are reflexive by nature, and humans know how to make the most of this characteristic but have not yet fully implemented it into computer systems. Therefore, the limitations of current computers can be ascribed to insufficient reflexivity.

Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii is currently an associate professor in the Department of Creative Informatics at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, Japan.

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The Aim of This Book	p. 1
Computational Contributions to Semiotics	p. 3
Semiotic Contributions to Computing	p. 5
Related Work	p. 5
The Structure of This Book	p. 6
Computer Signs in Programs	p. 10
Introduction	p. 10
Two Sample Programs	p. 11
Identifiers	p. 16
Semantic Levels of Identifiers	p. 18
Computer Hardware Level	p. 18
Programming Language Level	p. 18
Natural Language Level	p. 19
Pansemiotic View	p. 20
Models of Signs
The Babylonian Confusion	p. 25
Two Models of Signs	p. 25
Two Hypotheses	p. 29
A Traditional Hypothesis	p. 30
A New Hypothesis	p. 31
Two Programming Paradigms and the Sign Models	p. 34
Dyadic/Triadic Identifiers	p. 35
The Functional Paradigm and the Dyadic Model	p. 36
The Object-Oriented Paradigm and the Triadic Model	p. 37
The Babylonian Confusion Revisited	p. 38
Summary	p. 40
Marriage of Signifier and Signified	p. 45
Properties of Signs	p. 45
Lambda Calculus	p. 49
The Lambda-Term as a Sign Model	p. 53
Definition of Signs by Self-Reference	p. 58
Self-Reference and the Two Sign Models	p. 65
The Saussurian Difference	p. 67
Summary	p. 68
Being and Doing in Programs	p. 69
The Antithesis of Being and Doing	p. 69
Class and Abstract Data Type	p. 71
A Being Program Example	p. 74
A Doing Program Example	p. 78
Being versus Doing and the Two Sign Models	p. 81
To Be or To Do	p. 84
Summary	p. 86
Kinds of Signs and Content
The Statement x: = x + 1	p. 91
Different Kinds of Signs	p. 91
Semiotic Ambiguity of Identifiers	p. 95
Hjelmslev's Connotation and Metalanguage	p. 100
Peirce's Icon, Index, and Symbol	p. 103
Correspondence of the Two Sign Classifications	p. 106
Summary	p. 108
Three Kinds of Content in Programs	p. 109
Thirdness	p. 109
Definitions and Expressions	p. 114
Currying	p. 115
Church's Transformation	p. 117
Thirdness in Programs	p. 121
Summary	p. 125
An Instance versus The Instance	p. 127
Haecceity	p. 127
A Case Study of a Digital Narrative	p. 130
Levels of Instantiation	p. 132
Restoring Haecceity	p. 134
Optimization	p. 134
Interaction	p. 136
Haecceity and Reflexivity	p. 137
The Kind of the Instance	p. 139
Summary	p. 141
Systems of Signs
Structural Humans versus Constructive Computers	p. 145
Uncontrollable Computers	p. 145
Signs and Self-Reference	p. 147
A Structural System	p. 149
A Constructive System	p. 152
Structure versus Construction	p. 154
Summary	p. 157
Sign and Time	p. 158
Interaction	p. 158
The State Transition Machine	p. 161
Referential Transparency	p. 162
Side Effects	p. 164
Temporality of a Sign	p. 169
Interaction and a Sign	p. 172
Sign and Sein	p. 173
Summary	p. 174
Reflexivity and Evolution	p. 176
Reflexivity of Natural Language	p. 176
Reflexivity of a Sign System	p. 179
Categories of Reflexivity	p. 182
Reflexivity of a Computer System	p. 186
Reflexivity of a System of Computer Systems	p. 189
Summary	p. 191
Conclusion	p. 193
Glossary	p. 199
Refernces	p. 207
Index	p. 213
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Semiotics of Programming

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials