Sharing Theories with Agents

As I’m working with an agent to upgrade a repo from vibe-coded to something I can understand and dig into, I am reminded that Programming is Theory Building. By “theory” we mean: an understanding of the world, the software and how they relate that’s good enough to let us work intelligently on them, answer questions about them, and argue about them. Like: we have a theory about what the world needs (I need to be able to comment on this HTML!), how the software meets those needs (a server injects the buttons for this), and how it’s going to meet more (let me edit the content as markdown!). Software development is reality construction. We make something real in the world, we change what happens when I move my finger this way or click these clackety keys. Conceiving the new world (and how we get there) is programming. That work used to take more typing, more troubleshooting, and more puzzle solving. It has always been, at its core, building a theory of how a piece of the world works and…