[Fsfe-ie] Patents letter, V4

[Rory McCann]

> > The current cost of writing software is zero.
> 
> This will sound weird to them. It sounds weird to me. I think they
> will immediately say "of course it does, programmers need to be paid",
> etc. and will be distracted from the point.
>   "Unlike industrial processes there is no inherent cost to software
> development. A programmer does not need to supply raw materials in
> order to build a program since a program is an expression of an
> idea. ** In this sense, at least, programming is more like mathematics
> than industrial processes since the value in the program is only in
> the way it expresses the ideas of the programmer **
> 
> (I'm not too thrilled with the text between the "**" markers)

> Glenn Strong

It'd be better to compare programming to writing a novel, a more
familiar concept.

<Rory>