CS, Art: Same thing

Okay, enough of this keep in touch warm-fuzzy stuff… I’m in Memphis and I was away all last week, but now I’m in the real world and I can write real stuff. This is another techie entry, but it’s one actually worth paying attention to, so please keep reading…

So many people wonder about the allure of computers, and how people can spend their lives sitting in front of a desk writing out lines of code that the majority of people can neither appreciate nor understand. But it’s not that simple. And coding isn’t for everyone.

Sure, a lot of people can read a book or take a course. And just about anyone can put together a decent website. But there’s a very large gap between decent programs and beautiful programs. Yes, “beautiful” is the word. Math, computers, science, and all the technical fields can be just as exciting and fulfilling as art, poetry, and music. And the beauty they share isn’t that difficult to grasp.

While we geeks tend to seek elegance and efficiency, it’s not terribly different than artists seeking good use of color and poets using imagery and rhyme. You see, it’s all just about maximizing the utility of the particular goal. That is, doing whatever it is you want to do and doing it the best way possible.

To play a few notes on a horn doesn’t take very long. And to write a simple website, even by hand, doesn’t take much. But composing a symphony takes a lot more work. One has to understand the range of the instruments, what it takes to harmonize them, when attention needs to be given to a particular section…and all while keeping in mind the original goal of the piece. Similarly, putting together a software product takes a great deal of work. Whether or not multiple people are involved, one has to understand the range of different languages and structures, the protocols that allow them to communicate, and when components are overstepping their functions…all while remembering the intent of your project.

But there’s more. It’s not just novices and intermediate programmers. After all, there are bands and symphonies that sound good… and ones that everyone’s heard of. Similarly there are only a few programmers that can really put together understandable, efficient, reusable, and effective code. I’ve seen code that gets the job done, and I’ve seen code that reads like a well-written novel. Sure, some works of “programming art” read like J. K. Rowling while others are more like James Joyce. Nonetheless they both serve their purpose and hold their place.

Maybe these analogies are getting long and drawn out. But the next time you hear that somebody’s in computer science, ask them why they love it… and don’t just accept the short answer. If we take a step back, we can really see why people love the jobs they have. You don’t have to share that love, but it’s important to have that ability.

So I’m going to get back to my coding. I’m learning how to use Borland Delphi, which is a truly beautiful language. It’s so great a language that Borland’s biggest competitor that eventually crushed them has invested in it to keep them alive — Microsoft. Oh well, I’ll get off my (IBM) soap box. Have a great day :-P.