BEAUT.E(CODE) Computer Professionals Reflect on the Art in Software
Text keypunched onto computer cards, “bound” with custom printed rubber band. Created 2002.
3.25 x 7.25 x .5"
Open edition
This book documents interviews conducted with computer software developers to explore the aesthetic values in, and their fond feelings for, computer programming.
Text includes:
Well-written code is like well-written prose. There’s a flow, a clarity.
It gives a feeling of completeness
It responds to errors, clears up misunderstandings gently, carefully, sweetly
A great code is probably as rare as diamonds
Beautiful software reflects a profound understanding of the world in some way
Like a good poem, there are new levels of insight to be gained at each reading
Like a good lecture, it leaves me with a desire to use what I’ve just learned
I feel a satisfaction. I can resonate with it.
Software in which the soul of the developer can be seen
A piece of software is among the most complex creations of mankind
Akin to good writing music poetry, even the arrangement of the stars in the sky
Beautiful software is elegant, inspiring, lean, clear, revealing
Timeless. Sweet. Clever.
Elegant. Subtle. Surprising.
Rhythmic, spare, modest, clean
Elegant. Neat. Sophisticated. It makes my head swim.
Simplicity
Uniqueness, balance, clarity
Integrity, quality
The code: elegant, clear. The user experience: smooth, appropriate, engaging.
Beautiful software is lean, elegant, and efficient
It is a living thing
I’m driven to understand things deeply. Programming gives me a vehicle for that.
To me it feels more like a calling as opposed to a job to make a lot of money
Such a simple box, you can instill so much power just by pressing different keys
There is nothing like the satisfaction of getting a program to work
I wanted to build things. Building with software is like having a mega Lego box.
Solving problems, fitting pieces together, doing powerful things by just typing
I will not let this computer beat me. I will not let this computer win.
Have your own way of doing things. Develop a style. Put some soul into it.
I like to solve puzzles and see if I can make the machine do what I want
I’m a creative person. I can’t sing, compose, draw. I want to create something.
Programming is still the most fun I can have sitting in a chair with arms
Created for the 2002 exhibition BEAUT.E(CODE). Statement below:
I am a visual artist. My husband is a software engineer.
For years I have listened to his conversations with colleagues about hardware and software, what is good or pleasing and what is not and why, what they find new and exciting or classic and exciting. I am able to sense, but am unable to experience the excitement they feel. I wanted to find a point of entry into this world, and find a way to convey their excitement to other non-technical people.
I gathered information by conducting group interviews with and sending questionnaires to computer professionals to explore aesthetic values in the art of computer programming and how they are similar to (or different from) aesthetic values in art. Or more plainly, “what excites these guys?”
Three elements are combined to create the pieces in this show: quotes from the interviews which I thought best or most colorfully expressed these aesthetic values, representations of artifacts I remember fondly from my college days working in the machine room of the university’s computer center circa 1980, and my simplistic understanding of the basic inner workings of a computer.
BEAUT.E(CODE) Computer Professionals Reflect on the Art in Software
Text keypunched onto computer cards, “bound” with custom printed rubber band. Created 2002.
3.25 x 7.25 x .5"
Open edition
This book documents interviews conducted with computer software developers to explore the aesthetic values in, and their fond feelings for, computer programming.
Text includes:
Well-written code is like well-written prose. There’s a flow, a clarity.
It gives a feeling of completeness
It responds to errors, clears up misunderstandings gently, carefully, sweetly
A great code is probably as rare as diamonds
Beautiful software reflects a profound understanding of the world in some way
Like a good poem, there are new levels of insight to be gained at each reading
Like a good lecture, it leaves me with a desire to use what I’ve just learned
I feel a satisfaction. I can resonate with it.
Software in which the soul of the developer can be seen
A piece of software is among the most complex creations of mankind
Akin to good writing music poetry, even the arrangement of the stars in the sky
Beautiful software is elegant, inspiring, lean, clear, revealing
Timeless. Sweet. Clever.
Elegant. Subtle. Surprising.
Rhythmic, spare, modest, clean
Elegant. Neat. Sophisticated. It makes my head swim.
Simplicity
Uniqueness, balance, clarity
Integrity, quality
The code: elegant, clear. The user experience: smooth, appropriate, engaging.
Beautiful software is lean, elegant, and efficient
It is a living thing
I’m driven to understand things deeply. Programming gives me a vehicle for that.
To me it feels more like a calling as opposed to a job to make a lot of money
Such a simple box, you can instill so much power just by pressing different keys
There is nothing like the satisfaction of getting a program to work
I wanted to build things. Building with software is like having a mega Lego box.
Solving problems, fitting pieces together, doing powerful things by just typing
I will not let this computer beat me. I will not let this computer win.
Have your own way of doing things. Develop a style. Put some soul into it.
I like to solve puzzles and see if I can make the machine do what I want
I’m a creative person. I can’t sing, compose, draw. I want to create something.
Programming is still the most fun I can have sitting in a chair with arms
Created for the 2002 exhibition BEAUT.E(CODE). Statement below:
I am a visual artist. My husband is a software engineer.
For years I have listened to his conversations with colleagues about hardware and software, what is good or pleasing and what is not and why, what they find new and exciting or classic and exciting. I am able to sense, but am unable to experience the excitement they feel. I wanted to find a point of entry into this world, and find a way to convey their excitement to other non-technical people.
I gathered information by conducting group interviews with and sending questionnaires to computer professionals to explore aesthetic values in the art of computer programming and how they are similar to (or different from) aesthetic values in art. Or more plainly, “what excites these guys?”
Three elements are combined to create the pieces in this show: quotes from the interviews which I thought best or most colorfully expressed these aesthetic values, representations of artifacts I remember fondly from my college days working in the machine room of the university’s computer center circa 1980, and my simplistic understanding of the basic inner workings of a computer.
