The Art of Programming.

By: Dinesh Nair

Traditionally, a lot of avant-garde believers are also highly supportive of the arts and culture. They appreciate, support and fund artists, both from the literary segments and performing arts. Arts and culture, they say, are the expression of our lives. Following this, practitioners of the arts are given free room to explore their creative processes. They get paid to play.

However, there is a forgotten and unrecognized breed of artist which most of society does not see. He too uses his creative processes every day, generating art which is both beautiful and functional. His works are used and admired by millions and his style is followed by others of his ilk. Those not within his inner circle marvel at his art and yet they do not pay homage to him. He is unsung, unknown and usually disregarded.

He is the network programmer. The men or women who create the programs and applications which shift bits on the networks of the planet. Frequently, they release public domain code, programs with complete source and are - you'd better believe it - absolutely free. Working only because of personal passion and the quest for more knowledge, they invest hours and weeks of their time and talent to create applications which the general netizen uses, usually with nary a thought for the artist. Even when the artist requests users of his works to let him know - by sending a postcard or an email - the users are unappreciative, yet they continue to enjoy his art.

Programming should be recognized as an artform, even if some claim that it is not part of pop culture. Multimedia artists are feted with fat paychecks and fame, yet the humble programmer who wrote the software which the multimedia artist uses is usually unknown. Programs, while in no way visually appealing - who would find millions of lines of garbled English sexy ? - only show their true beauty when they are in execution. It is only then can one marvel at the skill and talent expended in the art you see in action before you.

Consequently, as artists, programmers and designers should be given the mandate to go as far as their imaginations take them. As artists who create works of design, they should be allocated the same freedom of thought and expression that society tolerates in painters, dancers and thespians. While society tolerates eccentricity and generally abnormal behaviour in cultural artists, technological artists - which is what the programmer is - should be allocated the same tolerance. Unfortunately, looking at a majority of infotech firms in Malaysia, one would be hardpressed in picking out the creators from the marketing people. Our rather stoid corporate culture demands that programmers dress in shirts and ties. It demands that programmers follow the usual nine-to-five working hour and it demands that programmers create when pushed.

Yet, we understand when a writer speaks of writer's block, a painter says he is not inspired and a dancer says that the dance just does not "talk" to him. This accepted bumming around by culture is not extended to the programmer. Programmers do sit around, trying to formulate the creative processes which will go into their artform. Creativity cannot be summonned on demand, it may make its entrance at odd hours and at times totally irrelevant. Its flashes like these which separate the sheep from the leaders in creative thought.

And just as writing a symphony takes time, the network programmer has to coordinate the various instruments of the network, ensuring that they all combine in harmony for the technological symphony he is creating. The art of utilizing the least bandwidth and resources, the skill involved in coordinating disparate entities of the network and the sheer effort in tying all of these together for a dance of bits and information culminate in a feast of options and of beauty for the beholder.

Occasionally, some of the ideas expounded by those that break the envelopes of thought are weird, but what is now accepted was once weird too. Professor Michael Hawley of the MIT Media Lab is toying with the idea of swallowing a radio transmitter pill and thence broadcasting the fluctuations of his body's signs as he runs the Boston Marathon. Unconventional it may sound now, yet with more work, you are actually witnessing the beginnings of nanotechnology used in medical applications. Some future patient might have the same technology in his tummy, sending out bits about his health, temperature, pulse rate and cholestorol level to the hospital. This remote monitoring would allow medicos to practice preventative medicine and save a life before it is even endangered.

Just like the rennaisance period, it is the nonconformists in the artform who will push the envelope of knowledge and beauty. By stifling the creative energies of programmers now, we are ensuring that we will always be stuck in the backwaters of the industry. Let your programmers explore their minds worth, let them experiment. After all in software design, the only thing one can lose is time. And it is in playing exploration games like this that the lerning and exercise come for free. With a wacky attitude, we will be more attuned to creating new boundaries and it is only with this atitude that the goals of the MSC will be met with beautiful results.

Originally published at www.alphaque.com.
© 2001 Dinesh Nair.

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