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This is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Law and computer code are quite similar in many ways, yet innovations in software architecture and tools
by TrevorBurnham 17y ago
This is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Law and computer code are quite similar in many ways, yet innovations in software architecture and tools barely affect the way laws are written. No matter how much "transparency" we have, legal text itself remains incomprehensible. And though online distribution has managed to catch on, lawmakers don't take advantage of any of the affordances of the medium--diff being a prime example.
If only law could be written in Python...
- amock 17y agoIs there a reason you picked Python? Python seems like a bad language for comparison since so much of it is checked at runtime. It seems like Coq or Agda would be a superior choice for writing laws in.
- Raphael 17y agoRepublican congressman can't get enough Coq.
- TomOfTTB 17y agoThe problem with the comparison is that lawmakers are purposely being duplicitous. It's a well known fact that congress drafts laws in a manner that's designed to turn away the casual reader because doing so gives them the ability to "spin" when re-election comes around. So all the tools in the world aren't going to compensate for someone whose trying to be opaque.