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Re: Is Programing Art or Science?

From Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
Newsgroups comp.lang.lisp, comp.emacs, comp.lang.python, comp.lang.perl.misc
Subject Re: Is Programing Art or Science?
Date 2012-04-03 10:42 +0000
Organization muc.de e.V.
Message-ID <jlek6d$1p6a$1@colin.muc.de> (permalink)
References <c975170b-6c1e-407e-8c18-50cd1ad4f34e@vy9g2000pbc.googlegroups.com>

Cross-posted to 4 groups.

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Hi, Xah,

In comp.emacs Xah Lee <xahlee@gmail.com> wrote:

> For these computing jockeys, there remains the question of why Knuth
> named his books the ?Art? of Computer Programing, or why some
> computing luminaries litter the caution that programing is as much a
> art as science. What elite dimwits need to realize is that these
> authors are not defining or correcting, but breaking precepts among
> the automatons in programing industry.

He was using art in the sense of "the exercise of human skill (as
distinguished from nature)".  That's the second definition in my
dictionary.  When people talk about, for example, the art of painting
water colours, they mean the techniques of mixing paints, depicting
objects on paper, etc.  They are not referring to the artistic value of
the painting painted.

> yours humbly,
> 
> Xah

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).

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Thread

Is Programing Art or Science? Xah Lee <xahlee@gmail.com> - 2012-03-30 01:27 -0700
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? ccc31807 <cartercc@gmail.com> - 2012-03-30 11:49 -0700
    Re: Is Programing Art or Science? "Pascal J. Bourguignon" <pjb@informatimago.com> - 2012-04-02 23:48 +0200
      Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2012-04-02 16:52 -0700
        Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Emile van Sebille <emile@fenx.com> - 2012-04-02 17:04 -0700
        Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Tim Bradshaw <tfb@tfeb.org> - 2012-04-03 10:42 +0100
      Re: Is Programing Art or Science? ccc31807 <cartercc@gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 10:00 -0700
        Re: Is Programing Art or Science? "Pascal J. Bourguignon" <pjb@informatimago.com> - 2012-04-03 20:27 +0200
          Re: Is Programing Art or Science? ccc31807 <cartercc@gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 12:39 -0700
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Chiron <chiron613.no.spam.@no.spam.please.gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 04:26 +0000
    Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Devin Jeanpierre <jeanpierreda@gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 06:05 -0400
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Torsten Mueller <dev-null@shared-files.de> - 2012-04-03 12:17 +0200
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> - 2012-04-03 10:42 +0000
    Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Alec Taylor <alec.taylor6@gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 22:43 +1000
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Peter Davis <Peter.Davis@mathworks.com> - 2012-04-03 09:20 -0400
  Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2012-04-03 16:22 +0100
    Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Xah Lee <xahlee@gmail.com> - 2012-04-03 14:39 -0700
    Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2012-04-04 03:33 -0400
      Re: Is Programing Art or Science? Chiron <chiron613.no.spam.@no.spam.please.gmail.com> - 2012-04-04 17:52 +0000

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