202408121812 Only artists can appreciate art

A particularly insightful quote from 202408121814 The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer concerns the intricacies and beauty of programming and the perception and recognition thereof.¹

I have often felt that programming is an art form,
whose real value can only be appreciated
by another versed in the same arcane art;
there are lovely gems and brilliant coups
hidden from human view and admiration, sometimes forever,
by the very nature of the process.

— Ed Nather, The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer

I've always felt this to be true. It's hard to directly describe the exact nature of this phenomenon, but my gut tells me that it has to do with intuition. 202408021018 Intuition and instinct are implicit knowledge, which means that our intuition about what code is beautiful is really a deep subconscious judgement of its strengths and weaknesses. Still — beauty is subjective (is it? Aristotle, Kant etc. #thread) and perhaps some of this perception of the art of programming is simply personal, inscrutable, irrational preference.

More broadly, this would apply to other fields. In particular, I've heard mathematicians and physicists discuss the beauty and elegance of research findings in a similar way. After all, Hamming wrote a whole book about it: 202205092134 The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.