Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code.
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Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
Most, if not all, the coders I met in my career are like that, and it drives me nuts. To them the appeal is only in how lucrative it could be.
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@eniko The only "completely wrong" takes like this I will let pass are those that are obvious reframings a person needed because they have some mental block that can't accept themselves as an artist.
Like Adam Savage posted a video recently discrediting his own artistry by choosing a more mechanical way of describing artistry.

I don't like it, but whether he's aware of it or not, he just chose a different way of wording it. His take "could" benefit people with so much self doubt that it's inconceivable that they are artists. But also I wish folks could let go of their shitty preconceptions and be free. *cough* I wonder why I'm so adamant about that...
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Most, if not all, the coders I met in my career are like that, and it drives me nuts. To them the appeal is only in how lucrative it could be.
@gee8sh that's sad
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Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
@eniko noooooo!
What a nightmare! -
Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
i don't know what AI brainrot has made otherwise prolific and proficient coders think that there's suddenly no distinguishing factors between good code, code written with artistry, and bad code, but it's baffling when this is a thing that we can measure and have measured in the past and they fucking know it
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Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
@eniko I guess it's good that this is the second subtweet I've seen, but I don't see the original (or maybe it's just a coincidence and you both decided to criticize the same thing at the same time).
I feel like most coders around me are like that (code for a living, code for money, etc). I try hard to empathize with them, and I advocated for the idea that "it's fine to be a programmer while not enjoying it." But now, many people want to deprive me of my enjoyment of artistry, too.
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@eniko I guess it's good that this is the second subtweet I've seen, but I don't see the original (or maybe it's just a coincidence and you both decided to criticize the same thing at the same time).
I feel like most coders around me are like that (code for a living, code for money, etc). I try hard to empathize with them, and I advocated for the idea that "it's fine to be a programmer while not enjoying it." But now, many people want to deprive me of my enjoyment of artistry, too.
@eniko, I wonder if a good thing (among many bad things) the dwindling interest in this field brought is that, after a few years, many of those people will leave.
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Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
@eniko all code is art, even Microsoft Word -
Imagine being a coder but thinking there's no artistry to writing code. What an empty existence
@eniko
Iono. Doesn't it logically follow that if you're not an artist you live an empty existence? -
@eniko
Iono. Doesn't it logically follow that if you're not an artist you live an empty existence?@ryanjyoder no it absolutely does not
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i don't know what AI brainrot has made otherwise prolific and proficient coders think that there's suddenly no distinguishing factors between good code, code written with artistry, and bad code, but it's baffling when this is a thing that we can measure and have measured in the past and they fucking know it
@eniko they dont want to know code is art
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i don't know what AI brainrot has made otherwise prolific and proficient coders think that there's suddenly no distinguishing factors between good code, code written with artistry, and bad code, but it's baffling when this is a thing that we can measure and have measured in the past and they fucking know it
@eniko
this is at least the third subtoot I see about this and I'm starting to wonder what/who this is about -
i don't know what AI brainrot has made otherwise prolific and proficient coders think that there's suddenly no distinguishing factors between good code, code written with artistry, and bad code, but it's baffling when this is a thing that we can measure and have measured in the past and they fucking know it
and for the record i'm not talking about making code to create art like a game or something. i'm saying *the code itself* can be art. a perfectly constructed api, a framework that fits together just so, when code comes together in a beautiful harmony, *that is art*, it requires artistry to create!
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@ryanjyoder no it absolutely does not
@eniko
Ok. Then I don't really get your point. Some people write code just to make money. Like a truck driver or cashier. -
i don't know what AI brainrot has made otherwise prolific and proficient coders think that there's suddenly no distinguishing factors between good code, code written with artistry, and bad code, but it's baffling when this is a thing that we can measure and have measured in the past and they fucking know it
@eniko it's honestly depressing how people i used to look up to have fallen into this bullshit. it shows that they never gave a shit in the first place and were just acting like they did
or, more charitably, they feel they need to be on the genai train to make sure they can adapt to new conditions and they feel hopeless to stop it. though this also feels off -
@eniko it's honestly depressing how people i used to look up to have fallen into this bullshit. it shows that they never gave a shit in the first place and were just acting like they did
or, more charitably, they feel they need to be on the genai train to make sure they can adapt to new conditions and they feel hopeless to stop it. though this also feels off@eniko ugh, fasterthanlime and niko matsakis...
i used to look up to you both -
and for the record i'm not talking about making code to create art like a game or something. i'm saying *the code itself* can be art. a perfectly constructed api, a framework that fits together just so, when code comes together in a beautiful harmony, *that is art*, it requires artistry to create!
"it doesn't matter what the code is all that matters is that it runs and produces the desired result"
liar. what you're saying is bullshit. you know it's bullshit and you're saying it anyway
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and for the record i'm not talking about making code to create art like a game or something. i'm saying *the code itself* can be art. a perfectly constructed api, a framework that fits together just so, when code comes together in a beautiful harmony, *that is art*, it requires artistry to create!
@eniko Thinking about how many different styles of code you used try to make, fast, small, compact, readable, maintainable.
Now all i see is how much of it you can churn out.
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"it doesn't matter what the code is all that matters is that it runs and produces the desired result"
liar. what you're saying is bullshit. you know it's bullshit and you're saying it anyway
i hope eventually the dopamine rush of the code slop slot machine fades and you look around and find yourself in a morass of technical debt and realize how utterly fucking wrong you were
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"it doesn't matter what the code is all that matters is that it runs and produces the desired result"
liar. what you're saying is bullshit. you know it's bullshit and you're saying it anyway
@eniko I'm imagining a few years of "just ship it" will do that to you.
I'm trying to think of a good example, but I think I've read fiction writers contrasting the hack work they'd produce to earn a living with the work they spent time on.