Re:Computer programming as an art (1974)
by joe_the_user on Friday November 09, 2018 @01:52PM
(#18416831)
Indeed,
The thing about the OP is that while Knuth makes a survey of meanings that the term "art" has, it doesn't seem like survey captures the difference between craft, artisanship and art as they have developed historically.
I believe in art history, art as distinguished from craft develops as artists of note appear with sufficient that their works reflect an unique personal vision while still encompassing the skills of the craftsperson (this view has been implicit since fairly early art history - see artist and art-historian Giorgio Vasari[1]).
In this art/craft distinction, it would seem that, yes, computer programmers are solidly on the craft side. The computer programmer can very creative but the results of the programmers aim to avoid personal expression. Even a programmer who cobbles together a game in their own unique style of assembler doesn't want how the game was created to visible to the end user. Creating a games' design may an art but the programmer aims to make the implementation of the game completely invisible (in most instances, everything that appears from a game implementation detracts from play - pauses, artifacts, pixelation, etc).
The one thing about programming that differs from artisanship is that programmer can face a wider variety of challenges and be more often forced to create entirely new approaches. This is the realm of computer science and software engineering - it is a creative realm but creative in the fashion of the mathematician or scientist rather than the artist (as the artist has been historically distinguished).
The thing about the OP is that while Knuth makes a survey of meanings that the term "art" has, it doesn't seem like survey captures the difference between craft, artisanship and art as they have developed historically.
I believe in art history, art as distinguished from craft develops as artists of note appear with sufficient that their works reflect an unique personal vision while still encompassing the skills of the craftsperson (this view has been implicit since fairly early art history - see artist and art-historian Giorgio Vasari[1]).
In this art/craft distinction, it would seem that, yes, computer programmers are solidly on the craft side. The computer programmer can very creative but the results of the programmers aim to avoid personal expression. Even a programmer who cobbles together a game in their own unique style of assembler doesn't want how the game was created to visible to the end user. Creating a games' design may an art but the programmer aims to make the implementation of the game completely invisible (in most instances, everything that appears from a game implementation detracts from play - pauses, artifacts, pixelation, etc).
The one thing about programming that differs from artisanship is that programmer can face a wider variety of challenges and be more often forced to create entirely new approaches. This is the realm of computer science and software engineering - it is a creative realm but creative in the fashion of the mathematician or scientist rather than the artist (as the artist has been historically distinguished).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_history