> to think about self-imposed limits in art via tools or physical handicaps. Oh, I'm also not denying the value of self-imposed limits: (0) In a library I'm w

> to think about self-imposed limits in art via tools or physical handicaps. Oh, I'm also not denying the value of self-imposed limits: (0) In a library I'm writing, I'm enforcing these rules: no unreachable code paths, no exceptions (or any other form of sneaky control flow), no asserts. Programming under these constraints is difficult, but the result is very satisfying: my functions now have more precise argument types, because I'm not allowed to throw an exception if they're passed the wrong argument! (1) When I write music (which admittedly I don't do very well), I find it useful to come up with, say, 10 potential leitmotifs, reject all but 2 or 3 of them, and force myself to write the rest of the song or tune around the selected motifs. The other motifs are completely forbidden, though they may be reused when writing another song or tune. > I am an experimenter, and although I fancy myself reading about logic and computing I think anyone who's doing something new, not done before, has to be an experimenter to some extent. Which is a good thing! That's how cool stuff happens: try various approaches, until you find one that works. Even logic was developed that way. First-order jails limit what you can try, though. --- As for the rest of your post, I have read it, but I can't intelligently comment. I'm a visually challenged person - I'm not blind, but I'm the kind of person who needs a ruler and a compass to draw stickmen.