Geek Sublime: writing fiction, coding software.
Faber & Faber. 2013
Chandra writes novels, and also writes software. Here he explores the fundamental differences between these two forms of writing, and whether software developers, in striving for ‘beautiful code’, can really be considered to be producing ‘art’.
In this discursive writing on the topic, we learn why Chandra believes the answer to be ‘no’. In particular, the process is so different. Writing is hard; it is a conscious anguished-filled ‘hell’, where every word is sweated over. On the other hand, although programming is also hard, it is hard in a different way: it requires a depth of concentration, and the developer can get lost in the process, unconscious of time passing, trying just one more thing. (Oh, how I recognise this description!) He doesn’t say whether the writing of this book was more like the hell of fiction, or the flow of programming.
We also learn a lot about the differences between Indian and Western philosophy and approaches to art. And one thing I learned was how the Indian philosophy explains how one can enjoy reading about something that one might never enjoy directly experiencing:
[p114] The pleasure of rasa comes from the meta-experience of experiencing oneself experience the stable emotions.
That is a sentence that will definitely resonate with programmers!
An interesting different look at programming, and art, through a non-Western philosophical lens.
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