Wiki has many pages that explore new, creative, maybe crazy new analogies for software:
- InformationAsCurrentAnalogy
- Journalism and drama in DisciplineEnvy
- The journalistic scoop in SuccessStatement
- MartialArtsAsSoftwareDevelopmentMetaphor
- AnalogiesFromMusic
- AnalogiesFromCookery
- JazzProgrammer
- FreeSoftwareMusicAnalogy
- SoftwareMastersOfFineArts
- FreeSoftwareLawAnalogy
- SoftwareAsRockClimbing
- CreepingObesity
- ZenConcepts
- AnalysisAsStorytelling
- SoftwareDevelopmentAsCommunityPoetryWriting
- SoftwareDevelopmentAsaCooperativeGame
- LowChurch
- SexPatterns
- The mock physics of WikiUncertaintyPrinciple
- TheCathedralAndTheBazaar
- BioAnalogies
- SoftwarePuzzleAnalogy
- ProducingCodeAsExcretingProduct
Wiki also contains critical discussion of more traditional analogies:
- ReadsLikeProse still describes an analogy for instructions to a VonNeumannArchitecture machine, forty years after Cobol
- SoftwareAndWriting
- ProgrammingAsEngineering
- SoftwareEngineering
- The very helpful fresh analysis of the engineering analogy in TheSourceCodeIsTheDesign
- AnalogyBetweenProgrammingAndManufacturing
- EngineeringEnvy
- ChiefArchitect
- ArchitectAsKeeperOfTheFlame
- SoftwareIsArt
- ProgrammingAsArt
- SoftwareDevelopmentAsCraft
In pages primarily about XP there are some great new analogies, many applying to psychological and social issues:
- The key salt water aquarium analogy in NonlinearityOfXp
- The juggler metaphor for XP adoption in NonlinearityOfXp
- TheAthleticSkier
- XpTeamCoachAnalogy
- DrivingMetaphor
- OneHandOnTheYoke
- SteerWithYourEyes
- StBenedictsRule
- ExtremeIconoclasm
- ExtremeProgrammingOnIce
Then there is some deeper reflection on metaphor and references to books dealing with it:
- SoftwareCannotBeModeled
- ConceptualMetaphor
- MetaphorsWeLiveBy
- MetaphorAndOrganizations
- FluidConceptsAndCreativeAnalogies
With all this analogy building going on, it seems worth asking WhyNewAnalogiesForSoftware.
Here's a try: It is like building a video game where you can choose any scenario and characters you want. But, it has two catches: the characters have to ultimately produce something of value to the external world, and other video-game developers have to be able to efficiently change the game to fit new external requirements. Related: SoftwareGivesUsGodLikePowers. --top
CategorySubjectivityAndRelativism