Knuth's Turing Award speech "Computer Programming as Art" [1] is relevant. It is useful to apply the scientific paradigm when appropriate, but it is also true t

Knuth's Turing Award speech "Computer Programming as Art" [1] is relevant. It is useful to apply the scientific paradigm when appropriate, but it is also true that there is an aesthetic dimension to computer programming and the use of computer programs as a form of human knowledge that gets lost unless we remember that the artistic element is vital to the field. [1] http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=361604.361612 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=361604.361612. See also http://www.paulgraham.com/knuth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/knuth.html for a transcription.