Executable Texts

This study takes a fresh look at software, treating it as a document, manu­script, corpus, or text to be consumed among communities of programmers, uncovering the social roles of these texts within two specific sub-communities and comparing them. In the work, the social roles of the texts are highlighted through emphasis on programmer comments, construction of which is placed within the context of the technical and cultural constraints and environments under which programs are written. These social roles are com­bined with the normative intentions for each comment, creating a dynamic relationship of form and function for both normative and identity-oriented purposes. The relationship of form and function is used as a unifying concept for a more detailed investigation of the construction of comments, including a look at a literary device that relies on the plural pronoun "we" as the subject. The comments used in this analysis are derived from within the source code of the Linux kernel and from a Corporate environment in the US. This book is addressed to researchers investigating the social roles of technology, but will also be appealing for IT professionals, who deal with these same source materials every day.