Is code art?

[dozniak]

It can be regarded as art as you said that each programmer has styling codes and comments but art is usually related to aesthetics!!
It is the skill and creation of aesthetic objects so in that sense code cannot be considered as art!

Code: Select all

                                                   extern int
                                                       errno
                                                         ;char
                                                            grrr
                             ;main(                           r,
  argv, argc )            int    argc                           ,
   r        ;           char *argv[];{int                     P( );
#define x  int i,       j,cc[4];printf("      choo choo\n"     ) ;
x  ;if    (P(  !        i              )        |  cc[  !      j ]
&  P(j    )>2  ?        j              :        i  ){*  argv[i++ +!-i]
;              for    (i=              0;;    i++                   );
_exit(argv[argc- 2    / cc[1*argc]|-1<<4 ]    ) ;printf("%d",P(""));}}
  P  (    a  )   char a   ;  {    a  ;   while(    a  >      "  B   "
  /* -    by E            ricM    arsh             all-      */);    }

[nigelren]

I've heard (haven't looked into it much yet) that people argue whether code is art.

My argument would be that it is art, because each programmer has a specific coding style, and comments in code could sort-of represent the programmers' feelings (you can sometimes see if they were calm or stressed for example).

What are your opinions?

Almost anything - actually probably anything can be art. It doesn't have to be about aesthetics or purpose - art is almost a point of view. Duchamp's urinal is a good example of how art can be conceived from anything and if you can find some doughnut to buy it, then that's up to them.
To me the main thing about this is - who cares? I'm more interested if code works and is maintainable rather than does it look pretty.
Oh and after 20 years of working in IT, I'm having a break and I'm now studying for a Fine Art degree.

[qw]

No, it isn't.

Though I agree that anything can be art, I haven't seen an example of code that is.

To answer the question, one must define what s/he means with art. Though there is no definitive definition, that's no reason to be pedantic. There are no definitive definitions of "table" and "stool" either, while in practice everybody knows the difference.

I think it is insufficient to say that art is a way of expressing thoughts and feelings. In that case, crying would be considered art. Art is the recreation of reality. In his work, an artist shows us the world the way s/he perceives it. We often take the way we see the world for granted, but it is shaped by many influences, one of which is the culture we grow up in.

Romantic landscape painters picture the world differently than neoclassical painters because they saw it differently. And how they picture it, influences the way we see it. Art is one of the driving forces of culture. With all due respect, coding style isn't.

[Love4Boobies]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art

I would say that the first 5 definitions always apply, whereas the 6th only sometimes does (see the example above).

Donald Knuth's argument is that programming still relies on a great deal of intuition---we are able to explain programs to computers but we are unable to explain programming to them.