Because software, like all capital, is embodied knowledge, and because that knowledge is initially dispersed, tacit, latent, and incomplete in large measure, software development is a social learning process. The process is a dialogue in which the knowledge that must become the software is brought together and embodied in the software. The process provides interaction between users and designers, between users and evolving tools, and between designers and evolving tools (technology). It is an iterative process in which the evolving tool itself serves as a medium for communication, with each new round of the dialogue eliciting more useful knowledge from the people involved.