Computer programming involves a variety of codes, from PHP to HTML, composed in the form of numbers and illegible text. To the lay person, it all resembles something they had encountered in high school algebra or physics, meaning, it all looks so scientific. However, when you look at what all of those codes produce–interactive websites, resourceful software, entertaining smartphone apps, etc.–it starts to look very creative. The answer to whether computer programming is an art may–like other works of art–lie in the eye of the beholder.

Image courtesy: http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=artist

It can be argued that internet codes like PHP and HTML are tools similar to an artists easel and paintbrush, or the paint itself. Once those codes are placed together in a functional arrangement, the computer screen is composed of varying colors, graphics and even video. Thus, web design is interrelated to computer programming. So, if web design is consider artistic, then it follows that computer programming is as well. In addition, building a website to perform in extraordinary ways requires a programmer to think outside the box, much like an artist.

Detractors to the idea of computer programming as an art can compare building a website to building a skyscraper: there is the web designer and architect who design the project, and then the programmer and engineer who builds it. Here, there is separation between the creative and scientific work. Further supporting this argument is the fact that most programmers have no formal art training. Regardless if it’s art or not, the creations from computer programmers are remarkable.