The art of programming

Question

I see programming as the meeting-place of creative arts and science.

Most of us ...

• are interested in programming for the fulfillment achieved by creativeness tempered by the rigor of applied science;
• produce extremely high quality products that we distribute for free (FOSS, as an example);
• subject ourselves to peer-reviews that few established academicians and research scientists will suffer (or ever experience);
• are always ready to assist, educate, and support fellow-programmers in improving their, and our own, skills (as SO proofs beyond any doubt);
• proof our ability to apply our skills to virtually any area of specialization, at almost the "drop of a hat";
• and more, and more ...

I think we seamlessly associate with both the fine-arts as well as the applied sciences. Are we for this to be termed 'geeks', as if we are separate from 'normal' people as well as the scientific establishment, not quite fitting in with either?

How can we reap the benefit of these abilities? I think not as much in financial terms, but far more in terms of having the comfort and opportunity to express ourselves in the ways we need to?

Edit: as Jason (below) suggests: what can we do to get "the freedom to practice our craft as we see fit, to learn and improve at our own pace and in our own way"?

Answer 1

From my experience, programmers love making things, for themselves and other people. They enjoy solving problems, and find an intellectual challenge hard to resist.

I'd suggest that programmers are more like craftsman, which I suppose you could say is where art meets engineering, but it's mostly about making cool things.

As far as benefiting, what we do is usually reward enough; the passion for our craft is usually what drives us. To enhance that, the freedom to practice our craft as we see fit, to learn and improve at our own pace and in our own way, would be ideal... not often possible in typical corporate environments.

Answer 2

I would argue that there is a difference between programming as art and programming as engineering. They are two different mentalities, leading to two different kinds of cultures and products. Read this article yesterday which I think sums up the difference well...and suggests that programming as art is the worse approach.

They Write the Right Stuff

Answer 3

Software is the ultimately cool technology. It is also full of constraints, technical, economic and intellectual. It can be like trying to create a symphony with a couple of spoons or a steam-powered two mile long violin. Since it models the world, its scope is infinite. It's the ultimate intellectual creation. As important in its way as art and agriculture.

Answer 4

subject ourselves to peer-reviews that few established academicians and research scientists will suffer (or ever experience)

I'm not sure I agree with that part of your premise. Academics and research scientists are all about peer review. It is core to how science advances. All good scientific papers are published in peer reviewed journals. These peer reviews in scientific circles can get very nasty when conflicting theories clash.

Answer 5

In my experience, I haven't really found programming to be artistic. The arts have to do with expressing truth, beauty, or emotional impact of some sort. Programming is a (very pleasurable) activity that at its core is intended to accomplish something utilitarian. Inventive, certainly, and art is inventive, but the reverse isn't necessarily true.

Also, the practitioners I've seen who view it as art typically seem to have only shallow understanding of the science and pragmatic engineering aspects of the work, as they tend to be focussing solely on the invention/creation/inspiration aspect... FWIW

Answer 6

If you are programmer working on developing RIA (Rich Interactive applications) you really feel the work you are doing is either 'The Art of programming' or 'Engineering meets Arts'. Back in the days we programmed with C/C++ felt the UI work is the most boring task you can ever get and now with RIAs like WPF/Silverlight/Flash etc.. lot of people are enjoying the colorful world of creativity in engineering.