I think it's both an art and a science. The art part is often under-emphasized... horrible code tends to be produced by people whose grasp is only of the scienc

I think it's both an art and a science. The art part is often under-emphasized... horrible code tends to be produced by people whose grasp is only of the science end. It's "correct" but it's not beautiful, elegant, or creative. It's not just how the code looks -- those that only understand the science end often produce "clunky" solutions that solve the textbook case but do not perform elegantly and yield a poor user experience.