Semiotics of Programming

Considers what computers can and cannot do, analysing how computer sign systems compare to humans through a concept of reflexivity.

Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii (Author)

9780521736275, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 March 2010

228 pages, 55 b/w illus. 4 tables
22.9 x 15.1 x 1 cm, 0.31 kg

"....Ultimately, Semiotics of Programming is an expansive and useful book for cognitive technologists. The book functions at one level as a very good primer and introduction to both semiotics and the basic theories of computer languages. On a deeper level, the book explores the notion of self-reference as a key mechanism in the process of the production of meaning by both computers and human beings.... Tanaka-Ishii’s work represents the type of interdisciplinary research, both theoretical and applied, that can inform a great deal of work being done in cognitive technology, from the construction of HCI interfaces and natural language systems to the design and development of robotics. The text, while intellectually demanding of its readers, explores new territories in the spaces that exist between languages of the human and non-human variety. As such, it is a valuable contribution to the field of semiotics and a useful addition to the bookshelves of humanists and technologists alike."
--Rudy McDaniel, University of Central Florida

Tanaka-Ishii presents 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 reorganise the semiotic theories themselves. 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. This book considers the question of what computers can and cannot do, by analysing 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 take advantage of this characteristic but have not yet fully implemented it into computer systems. The limitations, therefore, of current computers can be ascribed to insufficient reflexivity.

1. Introduction
2. Computer signs in programs
Part I. Models of Signs: 3. The Babylonian confusion
4. Marriage of signifier and signified
5. Being and doing in programs
Part II. Kinds of Signs and Content: 6. The statement x := x + 1
7. Three kinds of content in programs
8. An instance vs. the instance
Part III. Systems of Signs: 9. Structural humans vs. constructive computers
10. Sign and time
11. Reflexivity and evolution
12. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Computer science [UY], Ethical & social aspects of IT [UBJ], Psychology [JM]