Coding: Art or Craft?

Slides for my talk at RailsConf 2015.

Transcript

1. Coding: Art or Craft? Rails Conf - April 2015 Emily Xie @emilyxxie Tuesday, April 28, 15
2. Agenda • importance of metaphors • code as craft • code as art • conclusion Tuesday, April 28, 15
3. Metaphors Tuesday, April 28, 15
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9. Metaphors - a framework to understand the how’s and why’s Tuesday, April 28, 15
10. Code as Craft Tuesday, April 28, 15
11. Code as Craft - What the metaphor “craft” entails Tuesday, April 28, 15
12. Code as Craft - What the metaphor “craft” entails - How it has been applied Tuesday, April 28, 15
13. - What the metaphor “craft” entails - How it has been applied - Influence Code as Craft Tuesday, April 28, 15
14. “Craft consists of a body of knowledge and skill used to produce useful objects.” - Howard S. Becker Tuesday, April 28, 15
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17. I eat, breathe, and sleep BREAD- MAKING!!! Tuesday, April 28, 15
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24. Software Craftsmanship • continual learning • skill mastery • mentorship • customer relationship • collaboration • building useful things Tuesday, April 28, 15
25. “We are now unmistakably in the realm of human perception, taste, pleasure, and therefore of aesthetics. Can code itself--as opposed to the programs that are constructed with code--be beautiful?” - Vikram Chandra Tuesday, April 28, 15
26. Code as Art Tuesday, April 28, 15
27. Code as Art - What does the art metaphor entail? Tuesday, April 28, 15
28. - What does the art metaphor entail? - How this can be applied Code as Art Tuesday, April 28, 15
29. art /ärt/ “expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power” Tuesday, April 28, 15
30. Renaissance Humanism Tuesday, April 28, 15
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37. Code & Art: Creation Process Tuesday, April 28, 15
38. medium: ˈmēdēəm/ a material used by an artist to create a work. Tuesday, April 28, 15
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41. “The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture, and a highly creative feverishness... it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness, of fear and pleasure.” -Francis Bacon Tuesday, April 28, 15
42. We make aesthetic choices. Tuesday, April 28, 15
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49. Code & Art: End Result Tuesday, April 28, 15
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57. Personal Reaction Tuesday, April 28, 15
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62. “Artwork has semantic character - it involves the possibility and necessity of interpreting the work: a theory of what it is about, and what the subject is.” - Arthur Danto Tuesday, April 28, 15
63. It’s all about the ideas. Tuesday, April 28, 15
64. Agenda • importance of metaphors • code as craft • code as art • conclusion Tuesday, April 28, 15
65. Code ? Art : Craft Tuesday, April 28, 15
66. Code = Art && Craft Tuesday, April 28, 15
67. code is craft code is art applied skill right tool collaborative functional traditions of doing made to be used made to be interpreted & much more... creativity choice of medium individual aesthetic personal preferences Tuesday, April 28, 15
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69. Software artistry? - innovation Tuesday, April 28, 15
70. Software artistry? - innovation - attract more diversity Tuesday, April 28, 15
71. Software artistry? - innovation - attract more diversity - creative capital Tuesday, April 28, 15
72. Software artistry? - innovation - attract more diversity - creative capital - code for code’s sake Tuesday, April 28, 15
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74. Software Sculptors Tuesday, April 28, 15
75. special thanks to... benjamin berman christopher leighton nicholas platt christopher lee julian simioni avi flombaum jake crawford jess rucinski aaron oehlschlaeger ngozi nwogwugwu gunnar bell molly duggan meghan porter-mahoney ian suvak tony wuersch Tuesday, April 28, 15
76. Source Material / Readings • Howard S. Becker, Arts and Crafts, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Jan., 1978), pp. 862-889 • The Distinction between Art and Craft, S/ally J. Markowitz, Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 55-70 • Is there a difference between art and craft? Laura Morelli, TED Ed. • Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty, Vikram Chandra, 2014 • https://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/151837 - Different ways to loop 1 - 100 in Ruby • Crafts and culture of a Medieval Guild, Joann Jovinelly, Jason Netelkos • http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/crafts-in-the-middle-ages.html • Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham, http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html • What Art Is, Arthur Danto, 2014 (quote) Tuesday, April 28, 15
77. Thank you. @emilyxxie Tuesday, April 28, 15