Coding Stories: Wrangling Representations

Before I can do much of anything such as cook a meal, calculate the forces on a projectile, or solve a math puzzle, I first need to get some aspects of the world around me into my brain. This process can be called representation because the ideas in my head represent what I perceive to be in the world. Once they are in my head I can use them in my thinking and actions.

When you doing something with a computer you also do this, but you additionally need to represent things in ways that are amenable to the structure of computers. Yet despite its importance…