OT: Crazy Programming

[Christopher Encapera]

> > This is exactly right, and it is an important point.  As long as
programs
> > continue to be essentially "hand-crafted", we will never be able to
build
> > reliable large systems.  Only when programming ceases to be art and
moves
> > into the realm of engineering -- like building a bridge or a building --
> > will we get the reliability that we really need in order to create the
> > large systems that the twenty-first century demands.
>
>You appear to have mistaken Art for Handicrafts.  All things which are
>designed are Arts.  Being an art (or being a craft for that matter) has
>nothing to do with whether something is unreliable.  There is a great
>deal of prejudice between 'Artists who hate Technology' and 'Technologists
>who hate Art', but at the top level of the profession -- you do both.
>Laura Creighton

Well said.  I think one should keep in mind though the difference between
art and art.  If you mean the art that sits in front of many of our
institutions ("modern" art) and the like, it deserves our universal
condemnation, and indeed our deep hatred ;)  If you however mean art, as in
the art of cooking, or the martial arts, then of course we should not shy
away from calling programming (or engineering) an art.  In my opinion, the
art is found not only at the top level, but at the very beginning.  If
python has anything to do with art, however, then I am deeply offended, and
will unsubscribe to this list immediately and never program again...:)


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