“Computing: A Human Activity”
E563542
“Computing: A Human Activity” is a collection of essays by computer scientist Peter Naur that explores computing as a human-centered, theory-building activity rather than a purely formal or mathematical discipline.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| “Computing: A Human Activity” canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6023114 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “Computing: A Human Activity” Context triple: [Peter Naur, notableWork, “Computing: A Human Activity”]
-
A.
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About is a reflective book by Donald E. Knuth in which he discusses the philosophical, spiritual, and personal dimensions underlying his life and work in computer science.
-
B.
The Universal Computer
The Universal Computer is a book by mathematician and logician Martin Davis that traces the history and development of the concept of computation and the universal Turing machine.
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C.
Computing as a Discipline
"Computing as a Discipline" is a seminal 1989 paper by Peter J. Denning that systematically defined the intellectual structure and core subfields of computer science as an academic discipline.
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D.
The Science of Computing
"The Science of Computing" is a foundational work by Peter J. Denning that explores the principles, theory, and practice underlying computer science as a scientific discipline.
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E.
Man-Computer Symbiosis
Man-Computer Symbiosis is a seminal 1960 essay by J. C. R. Licklider that envisioned interactive, cooperative partnerships between humans and computers, laying conceptual foundations for modern interactive computing and the internet.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “Computing: A Human Activity” Target entity description: “Computing: A Human Activity” is a collection of essays by computer scientist Peter Naur that explores computing as a human-centered, theory-building activity rather than a purely formal or mathematical discipline.
-
A.
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About is a reflective book by Donald E. Knuth in which he discusses the philosophical, spiritual, and personal dimensions underlying his life and work in computer science.
-
B.
The Universal Computer
The Universal Computer is a book by mathematician and logician Martin Davis that traces the history and development of the concept of computation and the universal Turing machine.
-
C.
Computing as a Discipline
"Computing as a Discipline" is a seminal 1989 paper by Peter J. Denning that systematically defined the intellectual structure and core subfields of computer science as an academic discipline.
-
D.
The Science of Computing
"The Science of Computing" is a foundational work by Peter J. Denning that explores the principles, theory, and practice underlying computer science as a scientific discipline.
-
E.
Man-Computer Symbiosis
Man-Computer Symbiosis is a seminal 1960 essay by J. C. R. Licklider that envisioned interactive, cooperative partnerships between humans and computers, laying conceptual foundations for modern interactive computing and the internet.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (35)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
essay collection ⓘ |
| advocates | understanding computing through human activities rather than abstract machines ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Naur's concept of dataology
ⓘ
critique of formalist approaches to programming ⓘ |
| author | Peter Naur NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
purely formal views of computing
ⓘ
purely mathematical conceptions of programming ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
limitations of formal methods in capturing practical programming
ⓘ
programming as theory building ⓘ the importance of human judgment in software development ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
computing as a human-centered activity
ⓘ
the role of human understanding in programming ⓘ theory-building in computing ⓘ |
| genre |
computer science literature
ⓘ
philosophy of computing ⓘ |
| hasPart |
essays on formal methods
ⓘ
essays on software engineering practice ⓘ essays on the nature of programming ⓘ essays on the philosophy of computer science ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
computer scientists
ⓘ
researchers in philosophy of computing ⓘ software engineers ⓘ students of computer science ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
computing
ⓘ
programming ⓘ software development ⓘ theory of computer science ⓘ |
| proposes | view of programs as theories about the world ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
formal methods in software development
ⓘ
human-centered computing ⓘ philosophy of science ⓘ programming methodology ⓘ software engineering ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: “Computing: A Human Activity” Description of subject: “Computing: A Human Activity” is a collection of essays by computer scientist Peter Naur that explores computing as a human-centered, theory-building activity rather than a purely formal or mathematical discipline.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.