Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!manuel!ccadfa!ghm
From: ghm@ccadfa.adfa.oz.au (Geoff Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Creativity in Computing (Was Re: Art vs. Engineering)
Message-ID: <2382@ccadfa.adfa.oz.au>
Date: 13 May 91 23:26:32 GMT
References: <1991May6.165902.2116@ssd.kodak.com> <35177@athertn.Atherton.COM> <1991May9.124559.2924@ssd.kodak.com> <4315@meaddata.meaddata.com>
Organization: Computer Centre, University College, UNSW, ADFA, Canberra, Australia
Lines: 26

dedek@meaddata.com (Mike Dedek) writes:

>.... compsci is similar to photography; there will be applications
>which are more 'scientific' and those which are more 'artistic'.  The
>line differentiating these is blurred.  The really great breakthroughs
>in compsci will be at least partly artistic, because they will be so
>radically different from the status quo that some creative effort will
>be necessary.  

I missed the start of this thread, but I want to take up the point that Mike 
makes above.  There is an implication here that creativity is only involved
in the "really great breakthroughs", and I disagree with this.  Programming
is essentially creative  -  look at the enthusiasm which some of the best
programmers put into their work, and you will see exactly the same 
concentration and demand for perfection as you see in the work of any other
artist.  Sure, there are a lot of hack programmers who just worry about
producing so many lines of code per day, but just an an author can agonise
for hours over finding just the right word so a real programmer will put a
lot of effort into every line of a program.  Mike's comparison with photography
is interesting, and I think valid, because in both cases the creativity is
applied within a tight discipline  -  perhaps a better comparison would be 
with poetry, where the chosen form of the poem provides tight constraints.
Many people can write passable verse, few can write poetry.

Geoff Miller  (ghm@cc.adfa.oz.au)
Computer Centre, Australian Defence Force Academy