Code is a medium; consequently, artists will use it to make art. I would agree that most of the examples you cited are artistic, but this does not make programm

Code is a medium; consequently, artists will use it to make art. I would agree that most of the examples you cited are artistic, but this does not make programming an art form, any more than a beautiful sword makes swordsmithing an art form or a beautiful sewer pipe makes civil engineering an art form. This gives me an interesting idea: perhaps what makes something an art form is simply the degree to which it is done idly. I take it back: swordsmithing is an art form, but only in modern times, because we now produce swords primarily for their aesthetic value, rather than their utility in slaying foes. Likewise, programming today is mostly in the service of creating useful things to satisfy immediate needs -- but it's not hard to imagine a future where all programming is done by AI, and humans only program for fun. In that scenario, I think I would be much more willing to label it an art form.