The Case against a Grand Unification Theory

Abstract

Theories and design principles of a general nature will be far too weak to be of much value to the practitioners. We should develop specialized theories that are applicable in specific domains, and we should work on binding these theories and principles much like the way we structure large systems today. Functional programming, for instance, provides impressive facilities for modularization, programming in layers and program integration. However, several important areas are not covered by the functional style of programming: non-determinism, persistent storage management, and matrix-based computations, for instance. There seem to be no easy extensions of functional-based system to include these domains.

I suggest that we abandon the idea of a Grand Unification Theory, and design specialized theories that handle a few things well. We should be studying how the capabilities of functional programming and object-based programming, for instance, can be integrated, different theories being applicable in each domain. The challenge lies in seamless integration. This proposal amounts to a strong prescription for empiricism, that we have to do a large number of experiments to understand where theories can play a role, and which kinds of theories would be most appropriate and when. Examples of a few small theories will be given and their effectiveness and limitations will be illustrated.