The abstract nature of software and its development mean that we employ many metaphors to talk about it. We talk about software as architecture, engineering and craft. We describe issues of code quality in terms of debt. We name our classes and UI elements after objects in the physical world. Metaphors are everywhere in software development, but often they are unquestioned and misunderstood. In this talk we'll look at how and why we use metaphors, when they help us and when they mislead us, and how to make better use of them to communicate intent in code.
Kevlin Henney is an independent consultant, speaker, writer and trainer. His development interests are in programming, practice and people. He has been a columnist for a number of magazines and sites, has contributed to both open- and closed-source software (sometimes unintentionally), and has been on far too many committees (it has been said that "a committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas...