Is computer programming an art? 4

[Andrzejek]

I was looking for the definition of the word ‘art’ and found it here and point #7 here states:

7. the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking; the art of selling.

Is there the art of computer programming?

Wickedly parodied on The Red Green Show, when Red offers some simple criteria for viewers to tell if something they see is art or not: “If I can do it, it's not art”. I am pretty sure Red can not write any computer program. So, is it an art?

Am I Information Technology Specialist (fancy word for computer programmer)? Or am I Information Technology Artist?

What are your thoughts on the subject?


Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[traingamer]

Simply said, it is both an art and a science.

Sadly, for most it is simply a craft, which people master to a greater or lesser degree.

Greg
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Kierkegaard

 

[traingamer]

Just as many view cooking as a hobby or as a job, there are those who make it an art.

Programming can be viewed similarly. You run the entire gamut from the script kiddies who follow a recipe to write a virus to the craftsman who simply solves a business problem to the artist who solves it elegantly.



Greg
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Kierkegaard

 

[mintjulep]

Just because no one understands you doesn't mean that you're an artist.

 

[CajunCenturion]

What determines the difference between an art and a skill?

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[Turkbear]

Hi,
In my opinion, doing a task well takes skill, making the outcome special and unexpected takes art.

A well made coffee table takes sklll:

but producing a Noguchi table is art:

To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[kwbMitel]

Re:What determines the difference between an art and a skill?

Art and Skill are not necessarily related. You can have each without the other. That being said, with sufficient skill, almost any task can be raised to an artform. The people who can determine the difference are equally limited as sufficient skill may be required to appreciate the subtleties of excellence.

Can Programming be an artform? I say yes. There are many ways using programming to accomplish tasks. Where form and function are combined with elegance and a little of the ineffable mixed in you might have what I describe as art.

I would hold up Conway's Game of Life as an example.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think programming is a skill and can be art.

==> Art and Skill are not necessarily related. You can have each without the other.
I'm not sure that one "have art" and not "have skill".
I think it works in one way, one can be very skillful without being artistic. However, I do not believe the converse is true. One cannot be artistic without the skills to produce the art. One cannot be an artistic programmer unless one has to skills to program.

I think the skills are external, tangible qualities that can be taught and learned. Arts, if you will, are internal, intangible qualities that must be felt.

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[kwbMitel]

Re:I'm not sure that one "have art" and not "have skill".

It might be my bias but there is quite a lot of C**P being portrayed as art. (Sometimes literally). I have seen things given art status that do not require any significant skill or even imagination to create. Using paint enemas then "Shooting" at a canvas comes to mind.

With respect to the more specific subject of this thread with respect to Programming Art, I do not believe artful programming can be created without skill.

Can Ascii Art be considered programming art? If so I nominate Santa Mufasa as the most artful programmer in this forum.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I don't consider something being portrayed as art as being art. You seem to have a far more liberal definition of art than I, and there is nothing wrong with that. Based on your previous post, I can understand (not agree with), but understand, why would you think one can have art without having skill.

To each his own.

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[p5wizard]

Is there the art of computer programming?

Donald says so...

http://www.donaldknuth.com

HTH,

p5wizard

 

[kwbMitel]

Re:I don't consider something being portrayed as art as being art. You seem to have a far more liberal definition of art than I

Close, but it's not my definition that is liberal, it's my acceptance of other's liberal definitions that are in a position to know better than I what defines art. In the same way that I do not have the skill to ascertain the difference between artful programming and normal programming I accept that I do not have the knowledge or experience to argue with others in the art community. I know C**P when I see it though, regardless of what others call it. On the other hand, I do appreciate some forms of art that do require skill. M.C. Escher is a particular favourite of mine for example.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Using paint enemas then "Shooting" at a canvas comes to mind.

Sounds like the origins of some programs I've had to maintain. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[gbaughma]

My wife is very artistic. She draws, makes jewelry, sews, does amazing stuff with Lightwave, etc. etc....

I said some time ago "I wish I was artistic".

She said "I've seen some of your code. It's very creative. That's an art."

I think Cajun is right... programming (and I mean true PROGRAMMING, where you are making the computer do something that it hasn't done before by giving it specific instructions) is a skill. Making it do something that nobody THOUGHT of making it do before is art.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[2ffat]

You can be a skilled artist or just an artist just like you can be a skilled programmer or just a programmer. IMHO, a skilled programmer is an artist.

Having said that, the way programmers act (myself included) when you want a change done to their programs reminds me of opera divas. I guess that could qualify programmers as artists. ????!!


James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[Noway2]

Gbaughma, it sounds like we have similar wives. Mine also makes jewelry, tie dye clothing, paints, and does pottery (near professional quality too). For a very long time she used to say that programming isn't art but has since changed her mind.

Like the 'classic' arts, there are a certain set of skills, techniques, and tools that need to be mastered in order to use the (artistic) medium.

In terms of programming, there are a few dozen commands and constructs: basic math, conditionals, selects, loops. The art is in how these are put together and getting a result that is more than the sum of its parts. These same few commands are the basis for almost all software systems. The art is in how they are put together to do such vastly different things.

 

[SkipVought]

paint enemas then "Shooting" at a canvas comes to mind.

How enemagmatic!

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![/sub]

 

[jsteph]

Making it do something that nobody THOUGHT of making it do before is art.

My two cents would be this falls more into the software architecture or program design field, rather than programming. A coder is a coder. A coder follows instructions from the designer. If he makes the code do something else--he's a bad (or rogue) coder, not an artist.

If an architect designs a beautiful building, is the carpenter or ironworker an 'artist' because they physically built it? I don't think so, just as I don't think the programmer is an artist regardless of what he codes. The art is in the design, not the typed syntax of the language he uses to put something together. If the program designer and programmer are the same person--then still the art is in the design, not the actual programming.

So maybe it's semantics.

 

[CajunCenturion]

That's a valid point, jsteph, but there are lots of different ways to code or implement the same algorithm. Some coding techniques are far more creative, elegant, and artistic than others for a given problem.

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[Annihilannic]

Coincidentally, /usr/games/fortune this morning quoth:

Art is anything you can get away with.

Annihilannic.