Programming as an art (Part V, the last one)

Computer programming as an art

By Donald Knuth, 1974

(Read parts I, II, III and IV)

Less facilities: more enjoyment

One rather curious thing I’ve noticed about aesthetic satisfaction is that our pleasure is significantly enhanced when we accomplish something with limited tools.

Providing beautiful tools

Please, give us tools that are a pleasure to use, especially for our routine assignments, instead of providing something we have to fight with. Please, give us tools that encourage us to write better programs, by enhancing our pleasure when we do so.

Summary

To summarize: We have seen that computer programming is an art, because it applies accumulated knowledge to the world, because it requires skill and ingenuity, and especially because it produces objects of beauty. A programmer who subconsciously views himself as an artist will enjoy what he does and will do it better.

Excerpts from Donald Knuth’s 1974 Turing Award lecture, Computer Programming as an Art.