I understand your position and I think it's the norm. Yet I find it difficult to comprehend how it's not self-evidently absurd.
replyDo you feel like software transcends pyhsics, mathematics and logics? Because that's what the statement translates to.
The only reason it's impossible, is because nobody tries, because trying to do so would interfer with the deliverables of next sprint. The software industry has painted itself into a corner.
"Software people are not alone in facing complexity. Physics deals with terribly complex
objects even at the "fundamental" particle level. The physicist labors on, however, in a
firm faith that there are unifying principles to be found, whether in quarks or in unified
field theories. Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of
nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary.
replyNo such faith comforts the software engineer. Much of the complexity he must master is arbitrary complexity, forced without rhyme or reason by the many human institutions and systems to which his interfaces must conform. These differ from interface to interface, and from time to time, not because of necessity but only because they were designed by different people, rather than by God."
- Fred Brooks, No Silver Bullet
Physics is full of leaky abstractions. Solid? Leaky abstraction (melting). Ideal gas? Leaky abstraction (van der Walls). Molecule? Leaky abstraction (chemical reactions). Atom? Leaky abstraction (ionization, fusion, fission, alpha and beta decay). Proton? Leaky abstraction (sometimes you have to care about the quarks).
replyCheck out Urs Schreiber if you want to get over it
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