Constructs are the heart of the computer. In general, computers do not deal with
reality. Computers deal with constructs. The constructs we put into the computer
then become the computer’s model the world. Files and directories are
constructs. Screen windows are constructs. Word processor and spreadsheet are
constructs.
As I said above, I see the purpose of computers as giving us new and better
worlds, not simulating the old. This meant envisioning new worlds and finding
new constructs to generate these new worlds cleanly.
Designing constructs—what I call Construct Logic—is for me the center of
software design. Trying to find the magical, minimal structure is the highest
goal. As in those examples that moved me in my youth, I have sought construct
designs that had elegance, minimalism, and generative power. This was a new kind
of philosophical design—the design of abstraction.
- Intertwingled Work and Influence of Ted Nelson