Reinier, You must understand that this is subjective. As usual, if discussed to a limit we'd just end up debating the meaning of various terms.
Programming is, yes, about making the computer do something, but beyond a very small scale one needs to be able to read existing code. At that point the way the code is written starts to matter, and arguably that's the point at which it becomes art, as it is then an expression of intent. Jazz played like software would be terrible though, the pianist would stop and launch a patent suit when the clarinet player made a variation upon his improvised theme. The language is English. The other subject is software. The language written like the other subject would be terrible too, you'd need to jump all over the novel to get any context. On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 7:28 AM, Reinier Zwitserloot <reini...@gmail.com>wrote: > You're equating english or jazz to programming? That seems, in a word, > ridiculous. > > The simile would be in trying to codify what kinds of _programs_ you > could write. That would indeed be a very bad idea. Trying to codify > _how_ you write them is something programming languages do pretty much > by definition. > > The work of art is what your program can do. Not what your source > looks like. Obfuscated C contest notwithstanding. > > On Sep 19, 6:03 pm, Josh Berry <tae...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 1:43 AM, Reinier Zwitserloot <reini...@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > > > I usually get funny looks and stares when I argue this, but in my > > > opinion a good programming language _defines_ style rules. > > > > Meh. I think it is a waste of time to worry about most of the style > rules. > > Not to mention, style is such a nebulous term that it is borderline > idiotic > > to really try and codify it. Imagine if you had a style for what prose > > should read like. This is what most people try to do with programming. > :) > > (I saw a good analogy with Jazz the other day. Have you ever tried to > > codify "good" music?) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to javapo...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<javaposse%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to javapo...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
