Code with no users seems roughly equivalent to writing with no readers to me. Or possibly unpublishable writing.
There are repos everywhere with code about as useful as this author's writing.
Writers can write anything. Programmers can't
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Re: Writers can write anything. Programmers can't
#22Computers can write random text, and that is not considered literature (unless we are in the infinite monkey problem). To be called literature, it must “run”, in the same way as code, but in our brains. It must rhyme if is poetry, must be accepted by an editor, must be liked by its readers, be coherent and so on.
Anyone can write anything, but to be called a program or a piece of literature there are some requirements to be met.
Re: Writers can write anything. Programmers can't
#23I think you can make art out of just about anything. Constraints and limitations add to art, not detract. I'm certain plenty of people add artistic flourishes into their work. There's no shortage of code used to create art. The code itself can be artful as well. Similarly writing can be used for non-artistic and more practical purposes. I just see so many counter examples I wonder if I'm missing the point.
I'm with you on this.
I'd like to expand your artistic vs practical point by denying that really is a dichotomy, at least not in practice.
I've done lots of creative writing, and most of what matters in that domain is solving really pragmatic problems: is this metaphor clear? In what order should the reader receive this information? How can I get exposition across in a way that isn't distracting? Do these words go together well? Viewed askance, those (and infinitely more) are all constraints (many self-imposed, or at least self-perceived), that allow "art" to happen, and define the terms on which it succeeds.
For my job-job I do lots of pragmatic writing, too - think documentation and technical analysis - and I do my damndest to find "creative" ways to present material. I'll write things like "this next bit is really technical, if you're not in roles X, Y, and Z you might as well skip to the next page. For those of you who have to read this, imagine you're a squirrel", and then name all the variables after a type of nut. It's makes it more fun for me to write, sure, but the actual, pragmatic reason is that more people read and understand it when I put in effort to make material less dry.
(I realize some people on HN would be terribly offended by that last example, and think I'm insulting their intelligence by being "cute", and "why can't he use Σ, like Euler intended?" Well, you're not my audience - or, at least, not the most important among my day-job audience. In other words, if that's you, imagine you're a nut.)
Re: Writers can write anything. Programmers can't
#24I write stories for fun. They are never read by others, and most of them end up lost forever to old hard drives. I also enjoy programing fun and useless things, even stuff like pathfinding algorithms. I'll never actually use them over a simple library, but I enjoy doing it. This person seems to be more focused on other people valuing their work, in which case the thesis is even more wrong.
If someone is paying you to make something, you are almost always creatively limited. You are not making what you want, you are making what you think they want. If you end up being wrong about what they want, it goes in the trash; Code or not.
If you want to code for fun, or code as a creative outlet, code for yourself. Make very small and achievable projects. If you are more of a C/embedded person, try demoscene.