Is programming an art?

Spoiler: yes. Because art, in my opinion, is something artificial. That is, man-made. Accordingly, both the daub on the walls and the walls themselves can be called art.

But let's still think about all this.

Art has an idea

What is the idea behind your code? Take a moment, there is no easy answer to this question, because the only thing that can be said with certainty is that my code is needed to help my employer earn more money.

But a real artist is always hungry, because you can't earn much with art unless you're in the lucky 1%. In all other cases, you draw porn for furry lovers to somehow feed yourself.

Let's say an idea was found. And not an abstract “Our mission is to make the world a better place and take care of our clients,” but something real:

conquer space,
write software that helps diagnose cancer,
restore people's sight by developing a cybernetic prosthesis.

Can you say that you do something like that at work? Probably not.

— Actually, I wrote a clever algorithm that speeds up logistics, which is why there are always fresh products on the shelves. It's art!

Well done. And on whose shelves? Rich white people in first world countries? Well then, sorry, you're still a victim of capitalism, go and continue to support life in the pyramid called “World Economy”.

Or come up with software that will create such logistics that hunger will disappear. You know that food is produced in excess, right?

Art evokes feelings

Perhaps programming is the only field in which it is possible to measure the feelings of the observer. It is a pity that the metric is called “WTF per minute”.

Does anyone read the code? Most likely only colleagues – a minority. If the idea was to write code that causes disgust or, on the contrary, elitism due to involvement, then I have nothing to say here – it's really art.

— But the result of my work can be not only code, but also a running program.

Right. Did you come up with, design, and engineer it all yourself? That's right.

Art has an author

A savvy reader will say, “The author is dead!” and he will be right.

But the author is needed at least as a source of the idea. And if you work for a company, then you are not the author, you are an agent of this very company.

An agent (generally) is a person acting on behalf of someone; a representative of an organization, institution, etc., who carries out instructions.

Think about it, you are carrying ideas of something inanimate.

— For me, art is about being a cog in a big system and doing your job perfectly.

Finally, something honest, something real! But even here there is a flaw. Does the system really work smoothly? How the film crew of La La Land?

I doubt it very much.

Most likely, on the contrary, the so-called disruption is being arranged all the time:

bicycles are written when everything is available from a box or in a library;
code that has not been touched for years is being refactored;
everything is being rewritten using new technologies;
Total time is spent on dailies discussing “brilliant” ideas, etc.

Most companies don't require any of this from programmers. They want to get an estimate, which is then multiplied by a coefficient. Sometimes they also need to meet this estimate.

— For me, art is in decadence, in the sabotage of work processes.

Again, an honest answer, I like it. What does programming have to do with it? It's just a tool.

So programming is an art?

Yes (didn't read the spoiler at the beginning?). In fact, there is no one closer to God than a programmer.

Many ages have passed since the first words were spoken in the darkness: initiate program.
Many centuries ago, in the darkness, the first words were spoken: launch the program.
Elohim, The Talos Principle.

Programmers LITERALLY use words to create worlds, make them live by certain laws, control anything.

For some it is blasphemy, but for me it is not. God was the creator, and I am only created in his image and likeness. I cannot help but create. And words give me the power to create: