Re: [xml-dev] Engineering versus Science, Anecdote versus Evidence ...

["Tom De Herdt" <tom.deherdt@skynet.be>]

> Indeed. Like the fine carvings in inaccessible places in a cathedral, 
> invisible to everyone but the creator and the Creator.

Thank you for this fine image.

Probably out of context, but I couldn't help but think of words attributed 
to Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, 5th century BC:
"invisible harmony is superior to the visible"

Although both forms of harmony (or elegance) are probably important, in 
different ways.

Tom De Herdt
http://www.wulfila.be


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michael Kay
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Engineering versus Science, Anecdote versus Evidence 
... [Was: Designing an experiment to gather evidence on approaches to 
designing web services]


On 30/12/2011 01:41, David Lee wrote:
> IMHO the art of software is often invisible to nearly everyone but the 
> creator.

Indeed. Like the fine carvings in inaccessible places in a cathedral,
invisible to everyone but the creator and the Creator.

I take great delight in the internal poetry of code: making the source
look good on the screen, eloquence in the choice of names, choosing the
elegant design over the banal and obvious one. A joy of working for
myself is that I don't have to try and rationalize why I do this; a joy
of writing open source is that the enjoyment can be shared by others.
This is definitely art rather than engineering, but I like to think that
the pride in craftsmanship has beneficial side effects on the
engineering metrics of the final artefact.

But all this is an indulgence; it doesn't pay the wages. It's what a
good craftsman does, but not what he is paid to do. The day job is
engineering.

There is also art, of course, in what is exposed to users: the external
visual design. But that's a different question, and one where I have
very little competence.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

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