I read an excerpt this morning by Jacob Silverstone of the New Republic where he lifted coding into an interesting light:
A recent entrant to the “But is it art?” Olympics is computer programming. Coding, some of its practitioners claim, is an art form. This argument often hinges on the notion, promulgated by prominent industry figures like the venture capitalist Paul Graham, that coders are “makers.” They produce remarkable things—essays crafted out of the programming languages C# or Javascript that, like a literary essay, depend on elegance, precision, and a knowledge of form. Their creations sometimes affect humanity on a massive scale. According to this calculus, the operating system designed by Steve Wozniak for the Apple II might be as important as Macbeth.
I agree. I’ve always considered the creation of a computer program from the ground up into something that humans can use on a daily basis to expand their knowledge, while being visually attractive in the process, to be art.