Yeah - these are somewhat fuzzy categories and not diametrically opposed. I just think that there are certain pieces of software that are sort of "high cultur

Yeah - these are somewhat fuzzy categories and not diametrically opposed. I just think that there are certain pieces of software that are sort of "high culture" - meaning so influential and well thought out (Unix) or elegant (Lisp) that they merit close examination by later practitioners. As for academia, I think again there is a difference in intention (publication vs. production code) not necessarily quality. Academics tend to emphasize mathematical/theoretical under pinning and work from the general towards the specific - and some of the best have their eye on some specific applications. Coders in industry tend to work to solve today's problems - and the best do so in a way that is reasonably general and abstracted. Again, I tend to have this as a separate grouping in my mind.