https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
A nice recent counterexample (even though the question mark is in the subhead): http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/28/the-avenger
Is Programming Poetry?
31–40 of 54 posts
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#32It has very similar recursive process of clarification, refinement and simplification with the base case on what author thinks is 'perfection' (local optimum).
map or filter procedures in Scheme or Haskell (written in terms of fold) are worth to be framed and posted on a wall.)
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#33http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/wcw-machine.html
William Carlos Williams
On poems as machines made out of words
"To make two bold statements: There's nothing sentimental about a machine, and: A poem is a small (or large) machine made out of words. When I say there's nothing sentimental about a poem, I mean that there can be no part that is redundant.
Prose may carry a load of ill-defined matter like a ship. But poetry is a machine which drives it, pruned to a perfect economy. As in all machines, its movement is intrinsic, undulant, a physical more than a literary character."
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#34> Think about the greatest, most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. Some of them took more than 500 years to build. Can you imagine the grandeur and scope of the computer programs we will build over the next 500 years?
Now that is inspirational.
I've managed to spend my software development career mostly writing programs that I feel are meaningful and useful, and I'm very thankful for that. But nothing I've written is going to last more than 10 or 20 years. I would love to produce an artifact that lasts centuries some day.
So far, discounting stuff that only lives because of some legacy hardware system, we've got maybe LINPACK and... what else?
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#35As a developer of 25 years in all my experience code that looked sloppy was indeed crappy at other layers other than appearance as well. A great developer takes as much pride in every letter of his code as any poet ever does. Moreso. If we get it wrong, it doesn't work. If we do, however it ALWAYS does work right. Beautiful in that way.
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#36> Think about the greatest, most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. Some of them took more than 500 years to build. Can you imagine the grandeur and scope of the computer programs we will build over the next 500 years? Now that is inspirational. I've managed to spend my software development career mostly writing programs that I feel are meaningful and useful, and I'm very thankful for that. But nothing I've written is g…
How about TeX?
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#37> Think about the greatest, most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. Some of them took more than 500 years to build. Can you imagine the grandeur and scope of the computer programs we will build over the next 500 years? Now that is inspirational. I've managed to spend my software development career mostly writing programs that I feel are meaningful and useful, and I'm very thankful for that. But nothing I've written is g…
In my opinion, it's fair to consider API-connected services — and maybe even the Web itself (which did not exist when Perlis first said this) — as "computer programs." In that sense, we're all building this cathedral together.
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#38Really hard to answer because of the concept of poetry.Poessy?
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#39I thought it was painting.
ps: among the APL examples from the article, I'd add most of the IOCCC submissions.
Re: Is Programming Poetry?
#40Much of this thread is a dismaying example of responding only to the title. Titles are the bikesheds of HN. This is an article about learning programming from Alan Perlis in 1983—a rich topic. "Is programming poetry?" was obviously not meant to be taken literally: the subtitle is "yes and no" and the text makes clear that Perlis was being provocative. The article deserves deeper attention than this. It's about learni…
Wow, thank you for that link. Never saw it before. Perlis really did deliver on his intention to give us a "pou sto to last the student for 40 years, not a handbook for tomorrow’s employment." Every time I've encountered a new language or framework (Java, Ruby, Rails, whatever), I've been grateful to him. He also delivered on his intention to keep us "on the computer early and often." I didn't get much sleep that semester -- now I see that was by design :)