To my friends, colleagues, and family:
I’ve just tweeted a link to a new paper:
“An Open Letter to the Tech Community: Humanize the Craft of Building Interactive Computer Applications”.
You can also find the paper at
This five-page paper describes, in almost completely nontechnical terms, what I have learned during a half-century career of thinking mostly about one problem: simplifying the software-building process. It invites the tech community to think differently about applications so that application building can be taught in elementary schools. The paper proposes specific design principles for the new craft.
You will read in the first paragraph:
“Over the span of human history the understanding of three important technologies has migrated from the domains of priests to the domains of elementary school teachers: arithmetic, writing, and the calendar. Now software technology must join this migration.”
Then:
“My search for a new approach has led me to thinking about building applications, not from what is particular to software, but from what is universal to humanity.”
Let’s have a conversation at #HumanizeTheCraft .
My best,
Mel