Hmm. I had an issue once with numpy shape mismatch errors appearing after 18+ hours of computation. Frustrating, because it could be caught at compile time.

Later, I learned some typelevel programming (in Scala), and by encoding a digital (binary) adder and multiplier at the type level, I showed -- at least to myself -- it was possible to compute and check linear algebra shapes at compile time (without a compiler plugin). It was rather magical and funny to think that I just embedded basic digital logic in such a higher-abstraction world.

It was slow for the inputs I cared about, so I added some optimizations, like an if-statement at the type level, for example, so that it bit-shift for multiplying powers of 2 (multiplication for tensor products). The compile time difference being palpable was a testament to how "some 'ideas' are surprisingly close to others" (err, 'ideas' ~ 'numbers' in this case). There is a connection to the p-adic numbers here, courtesy of dyadics, and some connection to the more-natural "last-mile" problem.

It's not REST, maybe. But I felt it was magical.

I agree that solving logic puzzles is very fun. I even pointed at things such as Advent of Code in my original reply. Computer programming can be very fun and satisfying to do. It is the reason why I became a software developer.

But it is not the same sort activity as writing a short story, or composing a a symphony, or painting a still-life. Those are done with different purposes. Art is something done with the purpose of exploring emotions, aesthetic beauty, question societal norms, etc.

The closest programming gets to that is if you are writing a jingle for advertisement, or drawing a signpost, or writing a technical article.

I disagree. It's not just a logic puzzle. If I haven't communicated that to you, that's also my failure. I've written stories short and long as well. It's a different kind of art.

"Art is something done with the purpose of exploring emotions, aesthetic beauty, question societal norms, etc." I apologize if my emotions and aesthetics are not communicated, but I can only say that they were there. As for societal norms, I doubt that "embedding digital logic in types" is a "norm" of the programming society.

And though it's an appeal to patterns, I will have to bring up the general repeated failure of humanity to recognize art.

I apologize if I don't have the same sort of emotional response to embedding linear algebra validation at the compilation step as I do when I watched Mononoke Hime, or when I read The Picture of Dorian Grey.

While your tale sounded pretty interesting, it is the same sort of interesting as solving a math puzzle. I enjoy math puzzles.

Yep, and that's fine. I just think that for the people who do treat something as art, that I'd want to respect their opinion and emotions. Photography was not art, and now is.

Whatever moves people, however people wish to express themselves, whatever people find beautiful, all that is "art" to me. There's much which is art to others, perhaps, that I would not understand as art for myself.

I have to disagree, because this would stretch the meaning of the word "art" ao much that it becomes meaningless. Given your definition, anything can be art. Filing my taxes can be art, sweeping the floor can be art, taking out the trash can be art, making a butt print in my office chair can be art.

Art is something done with the express purpose of aesthetic appreciation, eliciting emotional responses and so on.

Nature for example can be beautiful, and certainly can draw out emotional responses from people. But unless we bring religion into the mix, it is not made with any purpose, it simply is.

The closest thing I think of programming as art is obviously videogames, if I consider that game mechanics are added with the undeniable purpose of inspiring in the player emotional response, it can certainly be done with aesthetics in mind, and I can think of a few examples where it is used to question norms.

"making a butt print in my office chair can be art." -- There were literally butt prints displayed at the Whitney a couple months ago. Just because it's in resin, so what? If I have fun making butt prints on my chair, is that worse because I didn't seal the form?