A chair can still be beautiful, even (and I'd argue especially) when form follows function. And sure, anybody can attempt to saw, lathe, and finish some wood into a chair, but you're going to need practice to make a good one - and nothing inspires practice (and innovation) like the desire to create something beautiful.
As for technical writing, you may not have the poetic license that I have writing songs, but there is still a need for some ingenuity to avoid being overly dry and to ensure conceptual understanding.
I could go on for hours about how our educational obsession with STEM outcomes (even in so-called STEAM programs) is killing the mixture of art and science (or if you prefer, craft) which is required to truly inspire rather than dissuade, but I hope this will suffice (otherwise, you're in trouble, because my verbosity is on par with Hugo's and Dostoevsky's, even if I haven't achieved the same poetic flourish in my prose).
A chair can still be beautiful, even (and I'd argue especially) when form follows function. And sure, anybody can attempt to saw, lathe, and finish some wood into a chair, but you're going to need practice to make a good one - and nothing inspires practice (and innovation) like the desire to create something beautiful.
That's what I'm saying. Don't worry about art, just write and keep writing. The rest comes on its own time.
I could go on for hours about how our educational obsession with STEM outcomes (even in so-called STEAM programs) is killing the mixture of art and science (or if you prefer, craft) which is required to truly inspire rather than dissuade, but I hope this will suffice (otherwise, you're in trouble, because my verbosity is on par with Hugo's and Dostoevsky's, even if I haven't achieved the same poetic flourish in my prose).
I really couldn't comment on that since I'm not familiar with the American education system.
I guess what I'm saying is this: Art is fuel for the soul. It shouldn't be thought of as a bad word, or something discouraging.
Done right, it gives us a vision of life as it can and ought to be (or conversely, rails in righteous indignation at life as it shouldn't and can't sustainably be). It takes abstract values and represents them in a recognizable, concrete form. We need it to envision a path forward. When we behold art which "speaks to us," the internal response is a life-affirming "yes."
That need can be seen across Dev in all the "What are you listening to while you code?" posts.
An example for the community at large: A common compliment to someone who writes software which is elegant, eloquent, and easy to read is "___'s code is poetry."
I think it's more discouraging to diminish writing as something more utilitarian than the art form it truly is.
You have strong opinions on the subject, and I respect that. It sounds to me that you would enjoy writing a post about this topic, I would definitely love to read it.
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A chair can still be beautiful, even (and I'd argue especially) when form follows function. And sure, anybody can attempt to saw, lathe, and finish some wood into a chair, but you're going to need practice to make a good one - and nothing inspires practice (and innovation) like the desire to create something beautiful.
As for technical writing, you may not have the poetic license that I have writing songs, but there is still a need for some ingenuity to avoid being overly dry and to ensure conceptual understanding.
I could go on for hours about how our educational obsession with STEM outcomes (even in so-called STEAM programs) is killing the mixture of art and science (or if you prefer, craft) which is required to truly inspire rather than dissuade, but I hope this will suffice (otherwise, you're in trouble, because my verbosity is on par with Hugo's and Dostoevsky's, even if I haven't achieved the same poetic flourish in my prose).
That's what I'm saying. Don't worry about art, just write and keep writing. The rest comes on its own time.
I really couldn't comment on that since I'm not familiar with the American education system.
I guess what I'm saying is this: Art is fuel for the soul. It shouldn't be thought of as a bad word, or something discouraging.
Done right, it gives us a vision of life as it can and ought to be (or conversely, rails in righteous indignation at life as it shouldn't and can't sustainably be). It takes abstract values and represents them in a recognizable, concrete form. We need it to envision a path forward. When we behold art which "speaks to us," the internal response is a life-affirming "yes."
That need can be seen across Dev in all the "What are you listening to while you code?" posts.
An example for the community at large: A common compliment to someone who writes software which is elegant, eloquent, and easy to read is "___'s code is poetry."
I think it's more discouraging to diminish writing as something more utilitarian than the art form it truly is.
You have strong opinions on the subject, and I respect that. It sounds to me that you would enjoy writing a post about this topic, I would definitely love to read it.