RE-THINKING SOFTWARE ENGINEERING APPROACHES: A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON THEORY BUILDING

Abstract: This paper re-appraises Peter Naur’s influential paper on Programming as Theory Building in the context of modern software engineering practice. The central argument is that such practice is focussed primarily on methods, notations, lifecycles and the description of artifacts such as models. Instead we propose that a theory building view is more appropriate, and that the concept of a theory should underpin a software design process which then calls for new tools and a new research agenda.