The purpose of the Software Perception project is to develop fluid knowledge representations for the concepts needed to understand and create programs. These representations will power a visual editor to assist a person synthesizing new code through a visual dialogue. The system utilizes simulations to build models of many existing real-world metaphors used for programming models. In the other direction, visualization involves creating real-world analogues to abstract processes. The goal is to teach the system programming concepts and concepts based on real-world experiences, and the relation between the two.