>all those things have sale values that DIFFER based on that creativity and beauty. Code does not.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. I certainly prefer to use software that has a nice interface, is fast and responsive and has thoughtful features. I remember the first time my iPhone opened a pop up at just the right time asking if I wanted to share a wifi password with my Mac. Wow! Delightful. And I am willing to pay more money for such things.
>But the customer of my B2B CRUD app does not care if my code looks like a FLW or a mcmansion. They care if it works.
What is "works"? I'm not being disingenuous here. The software development process is often plagued by things like scope creep, unreasonable asks from stakeholders, cutting things for budget or time etc...
"works" is a subjective concept in your hypothetical customer's mind. Likely molded by you or your project manager setting expectations, pushing back on feature requests, etc...
My real point is, it's not just the value of the consumer or "customer". But the artist as well. It's the satisfaction you can get from designing a performant service that handles requirements and has the capacity for future expansion, etc...
Just because some people are philistines doesn't make the creation any less valuable as a piece of art.
I’m sorry but this is complete nonsense; there is no pleasure derived from viewing “beautiful” code from the perspective of the consumer such as in your other examples.
A program is not like a car, a chair, or a house, and if any of this were brought up in a design meeting for code, you’d rightfully be laughed out of the meeting.
But it’s fine to disagree about these things up to the moment where you attempt to slow progress towards delivery for these values. At that point, the point at which functionality is hindered in any way by your artistry, are you now a problem on a development team.
There are plenty of productive ways to deal with problems, but make no mistake, on any competent software team you will be disabused of this “art” notion, not the other way around.
>I’m sorry but this is complete nonsense; there is no pleasure derived from viewing “beautiful” code from the perspective of the consumer such as in your other examples.
You're taking it too literally. "viewing" in the case of software is "using". When I'm using a well designed, performant piece of software I can feel the art in it. When I'm using something thrown together I can feel that too.
"Performant" is not the same as "well designed". What you feel is a pleasant UX, which is art, or closer to it at least, and would fit your analogy drawn against a chair or a car.
However what we're discussing here is how the code and otherwise hidden implementation is designed and built. OP is not a UX designer, OP is a software engineer, and should not waste time building things that are "beautiful" in that capacity.
UX and systems design are almost entirely unrelated, and should not spend time in one another's domain.
Your writing reminds me a lot of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
'The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together.'
I wouldn't be so sure about that. I certainly prefer to use software that has a nice interface, is fast and responsive and has thoughtful features. I remember the first time my iPhone opened a pop up at just the right time asking if I wanted to share a wifi password with my Mac. Wow! Delightful. And I am willing to pay more money for such things.
>But the customer of my B2B CRUD app does not care if my code looks like a FLW or a mcmansion. They care if it works.
What is "works"? I'm not being disingenuous here. The software development process is often plagued by things like scope creep, unreasonable asks from stakeholders, cutting things for budget or time etc...
"works" is a subjective concept in your hypothetical customer's mind. Likely molded by you or your project manager setting expectations, pushing back on feature requests, etc...
My real point is, it's not just the value of the consumer or "customer". But the artist as well. It's the satisfaction you can get from designing a performant service that handles requirements and has the capacity for future expansion, etc...
Just because some people are philistines doesn't make the creation any less valuable as a piece of art.