# Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur

32 Hacker News commenters recommended Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for framing software development as building a shared mental theory of the system rather than producing code; people say it stays relevant.

## Why people recommend it

- Theory lives in people's heads, not code (5 comments): "His argument was that the real program was the theory, and the translation of the theory into code was lossy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46655075)) "basically the code+docs cannot replace the richer in-human-heads ideas for what the real-world problem is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48005205)) "The important thing is not the code itself but your mental model of the software you're building." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48075625))
- Still relevant, especially now (4 comments): "more relevant today than ever, especially as we move into the era of autonomous agents" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48071778)) "Every day Peter Naur's paper programming as theory building gets more relevant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47908584)) "it still feels relevant and closer to how the activity feels to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46443678))
- Foundational classic worth rereading (4 comments): "one of the most foundational and profound papers ever written about software development" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46665076)) "I think more people should read Naur's "programming as theory building"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46179142)) "great foundational ideas are always worth repeating and revisiting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46652224))
- Sticks with readers, changes thinking (4 comments): "It's fundamentally changed the way I think about software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45976414)) ""Programming as theory building" still undefeated." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841536)) "which I haven't been able to stop thinking about" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48115431))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ur-fascism.md): 18 recommend
- [Politics and the English Language by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/politics-and-the-english-language.md): 14 recommend
- [Right to Read by Richard Stallman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/right-to-read.md): 12 recommend
- [Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations-on-moloch.md): 11 recommend
- [Reflections on Trusting Trust by Ken Thompson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/reflections-on-trusting-trust.md): 10 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur", https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-as-theory-building/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).