Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology

Volume 13, Issue 1, Winter 2009

Hermeneutic practices in software development
the case of Ada and Python

This paper shows the relevance of hermeneutic philosophy to understand how info­communication technologies frame our contemporary lifeworld. It demonstrates that the programming languages are the result of collective interpretations of the general lifeworld of programmers, management and political decision-makers. By having been inscribed into the processes of language use, this general interpretation permeates the particular practices of understanding that are possible within the language framework.