Language Games
summary
Argues that applying three concrete frameworks—Saussure’s signifier/concept split, Wittgenstein’s language games, and Grice’s four maxims—lets teams turn fuzzy stakeholder ideas into code. Uses a Lego naming game, the ISO 21482 nuclear‑waste signage effort (planning for 10–20k years), and domain‑driven design with ubiquitous language plus Gherkin examples to show what gets built: tighter APIs and tests that actually match stakeholders. Notes prompt engineering reintroduces a black box compared with compiling Python to CPython.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction to communication
- 4:51Saussure and semiotics
- 10:26Wittgenstein's language games
- 17:06Communication across time
- 22:34Coding as a language game
- 27:02Grice and cooperative dialogue
- 33:45Bridging business and code
- 38:41Conclusion and takeaways
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