Hermetic Principles of Computing

Introduction

It was in antiquity that the substance that inhabits behind the visible was revealed for the first time. We have long sought to unravel the ulterior gears of the universe, the foundation of the real, the indivisible reduction of appearance. It is not, as many contemporaries want to believe, energy; nor matter, as the mechanistic masters supposed; neither does vibration, as the most recent theories suggest. The material that runs through the veins of the universe is the Number.

This is how the ancient Pythagoreans deduced, the most well-known sect that already completely dominated the Original Precepts. The burning truth was also spoken by the geometrists of Egypt and the Kabbalists, who on sacred grounds deciphered the configuration of the universe. Original Knowledge has been protected and propagated by the masters of Algebra and Logic over the centuries. The teaching of the Precepts, endowed with infinite generative power, was strictly restricted to select groups of incorruptible apprentices, who made their lives bridges to posterity. The sacred study of Mathematical Arts has finally resulted in the last element of the Sacred Triad: Computation. For the ultimate goal of Hidden History is not merely to describe this universe, but to make each apprentice a demiurge capable of creating his own worlds.

There is no rule or principle in the infinite range of documents, guides and manuscripts that cannot be derived from the Hermetic Precepts of Computing. Today, computer arts learners study a wide range of subjects: they describe the minutiae of algorithms, traverse graph paths, penetrate network topologies, and even emulate supposed intelligences. And yet, entangled in the technicalities of common knowledge, the layman goes through a circle without ever glimpsing its center: the Fundamental Principles, of which today we only see echoes and shadows.

Plato tells us that “absolute ignorance is preferable to knowledge in inappropriate hands”. Fearing the corruption of the original principles, some would-be connoisseurs of hidden truths transmuted their precepts into a set of rules and prescriptions. They simplified the hidden truth in arbitrary dogmas. Thus, we are told that “a function must not have more than 5 lines”. We are presented with dozens of “design patterns” that hide the essence of the problems. These false prophets, blinded by fanaticism, shut themselves up in sects and demand absolute devotion. So are Functional Purifiers and Objectists. In this way, they replaced understanding with blind obedience.

And yet, as soon as the disciple of these sects exercises his practice, he is faced with some contradiction: if one principle follows, it violates another. Now, these apparent contradictions are only overcome by the profound knowledge of the Arcane Truths. The Hermetic Precepts of Computing reconcile all paradoxes, harmonize opposites and dissolve differences.

The principle of correspondence

The principle of correspondence was first enunciated by Hermes Trismegisto, three times great, who is the author of Hermetic Philosophy. Thus stipulates the precept: “what is above is like what is below.”. Its meaning is the equivalence of Universal Laws in all planes. It is worth explaining what these plans are.

The first is the material plane. In it resides the code that will be effectively compiled and executed, the configuration files, the archeology of the repositories and the instruments that the disciples use to conjure arcane commands. This is the plane most immediately accessible to the senses, as its materiality is evident to the eye. For this reason, the unwary make the secular mistake of confusing it with reality itself. The apprentice assumes that from this plane the infinite bifurcations of time and history are born. Thus, it reverses cause and effect: for the material plane is nothing more than the concretization and consequence of the higher planes.

The next plan is the architectural one. The systems that communicate through messages and events inhabit and relate to it. The disciple who goes beyond the material plane understands that beyond the concrete there is Form. No one can capture the architecture of a building in front of its walls: distance is necessary. Likewise, the architectural plan is only accessible to the rising initiate. It is necessary to persevere the apprentices who aim at this mental escalation, because the attraction of the lower plane is potent. Countless unwary deny the reality of the higher planes. They assume that what cannot be touched, manipulated and moved does not exist. Now, the architectural plan is no less real than the lower plane - on the contrary, it determines and organizes matter.

The third plan is the organizational one. It comprises the arrangement of associations, groups and people formations. Even the wisest alchemist cannot exercise his craft completely alone. Wherever there is work, an invisible web of relationships is formed between people and groups. Two initiates are enough for hierarchy and organization. This is as certain as the matter.

Armed with the knowledge of the plans, let us recapitulate the hermetic axiom: “what is above is like what is below”. Each plan is governed by the same rules. Thus, what works on the material plane is also effective on the architectural plane; similarly, the most perfect symmetry of the architectural plan is identical to the optimal layout of the organizational plan.

Thus, even the most neophytes recognize that a function, in order to be easily understood and reused, must be unaware of its surroundings as much as possible. Agnostic to how it will be used, it becomes more flexible. For this, it is known that there is a multitude of techniques: reducing the number of parameters and side effects, for example. Likewise, the fewer dependencies a web service employs, the more easily it can be apprehended, and the smoother its evolution will take place in the face of inevitable unforeseen events. And there can be no distinction in social organization: teams of self-sufficient and autonomous apprentices produce artifacts of immense beauty. They are like guilds of alchemists who have all the material to be transmuted. In this example, as in inexhaustible others, the equivalence of the plans is demonstrated.

Thus, the making of the tiniest of functions contains all the enigmas, mysteries and secrets that inhabit the higher planes.

Any magician has already encountered the principle of correspondence in any of its infinite forks. Conway’s Law: “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure” Those who are unaware of the hermetic principles are dazzled by this maxim and suppose they are facing a revelation unprecedented. On the other hand, those who dedicate their souls to studies know that this law is but a corruption of the Principle of Correspondence: Only those who are aware of the Occult recognize the eternal rediscovery of the Fundamental Truths.

The Principle of Identity

Change and permanence dispute the nature of the story. Its pioneering proponents are known: Heraclitus and Parmenides. Basically, they deal with the immemorial question of identity. For what it is must be it through time and space. And yet, initiates know that everything is flux in computing: The very raw material that underlies its artificial citadels is immaterial. Whoever wants to sip from hermetic and alchemical studies must reconcile these two poles.

Thus it enunciates the Principle of Identity: “What it is must be it through time and space”.

Although a code is born perfect, the future predestines the action of the Great Alchemist: Time. Dependencies change, authors change, requirements change, and there seems to be nothing immune to change. False: Time mutilates the impermanent, but what IS persists.

What respects the Principle of Identity has endured through the centuries. This precept is expressed on several levels, according to the Principle of Correspondence.

The immutability of variables can be considered its most primitive expression. Mutation is the root of Evil, because it gives different things the same name. When a variable maintains its value for eternity, it can be understood in isolation. On the other hand, when its value is modified, it is necessary to understand its history: the dimension of Time, the Great Illusionist, is invoked.

The same can be said of pure functions: If a function has an identical output in terms of the same inputs, then it has escaped time. In this way, the identity of the Name is respected: For what escapes time can be invoked countless times without ever disturbing its surroundings.

No different are the mechanisms of the higher planes. The versioning of libraries illustrates how this principle is still constantly violated. The fundamental problem with versioning is managing breaking changes: Library X exposes the function foo in version 1. However, the same library X changes the behavior of foo version 2. Customers foo now need to find out if it foo comes from version 1 or 2, since the contract was broken. Thus Time is present. The libraries that will withstand the days are free from Time. They do not change the meaning of the names. If necessary, they use new symbols to expose modified interfaces.

This principle, as can be seen, is already consolidated in some plans. In others, it still germinates. The hermetic master knows that the Laws are universal: It is necessary to extrapolate the Laws to all plans, as this is the result of the evolution of Practice.

The Response Principle

The response principle says that “Every stimulus has a response whose time can be manipulated”. This maxim has already been rediscovered and exposed in endless variations. Its archaic origin goes back to Aristotle, who rationalized that every effect comes from a cause. More recent expressions include Newton, in the established law of action and reaction, and Wiener’s cybernetic work. These laws, containing the foundation of hidden principles, no longer include a crucial part of the hermetic axiom: that response time can be manipulated. This will be understood soon.

There is no decision that is episodic in computational alchemy. Every model will one day be confronted with reality itself. The longer the error is perceived, the more painful the correction will be. That is why it is necessary to fail with noise, to fail early, and to fail frequently.

Failing with noise is the opposite of failing silently, which is one of the most fatal mistakes. Failing silently is the most basic violation of the Response Principle: For in this situation the answer is absent, and from absence follows inaction, and from inaction, mistakes continue, and from mistakes, chaos is born. In chaos, causality is shrouded in fog. The complex chronology of the facts that eventually led to the perception of error is no longer revealed.

Those initiated in the hermetic arts do not fear error, but their ignorance. For this reason, they prefer a code to scandalously fail that it proceeds with dubious premises in a farcical silence. They make sure that the inputs that feed an algorithm are validated millimetrically. Even the unknown, which sometimes has to be dealt with, is specified with rigor and caution. They expel any trace of ambiguity in their drawings, they force everything to be explicit and evident.

This principle is present from the most subterranean levels to the highest abstractions. When typing a code character, a linter may accuse a breach of convention. In this, the Principle of Response is already present. When an existing code is changed, unit or integration tests can fail. Once again there is the Response Principle. When this same code is submitted for review, peers can criticize it. There is also the Principle, whose nature is as human as it is technical. And it is not uncommon for all of these steps to be satisfied, but the execution of the code produces errors. If any detection and alerting mechanism is present, the Response Principle is applied.

Initiates must ensure that they do not get too attached to any specific technique of the Response Principle. For it is common for the unwary to wage wars defending, for example, static typing, without noticing that this tactic can often be replaced by others without prejudice to the Principle, which is the fundamental and primordial truth. The initiate who reaches the highest heavens must be free from attachment, if not to the principles themselves.