Art in Code

Art in Code

With my first computer science midterm drawing uncomfortably close, I can’t help but reflect on my brief forays into the world of Java and nested for-loops. Before Stanford, I never had any interest in computer science. The windowless basement in which computer science classes were taught at my high school served as the best metaphor for the way the concept of coding was presented – bland, uncreative and somewhat irrelevant. Consequently, instead of spending time getting intimately familiar with VisualBasic, I donned some tastefully ripped skinny jeans and opted to take visual art courses. However, now that I am at Stanford, CS106A has become my favorite class. How did this happen? How did I transition so willingly from acrylic to acm.graphics.*;? While a large amount of credit is due to the fact that CS106A is a wonderfully designed and entertaining class, I believe that computer science’s inherent creative similarities to art is more responsible for holding my interest amidst the perils of Karel and late nights spent debugging. 

Through art classes, I learned to plan out a creative vision through a sketchbook, to spend hours pursuing that vision in the studio and to appreciate the skill and vision of others who have gone through a similar creative process. In CS106A, I am re-learning these same concepts but in a different medium.

My experience with computer science thus far has demonstrated to me that creative problem solving is at the core of what it means to be a computer scientist. To write successful code, it seems to me that one must balance vision with intuition and practical elegance with technical complexity. Similarly, in the realm of visual art, one is constantly moving between the dynamic boundaries that separate one’s preconceived vision of the final piece, artistic impulses and technical ability to manipulate the medium. If these balances are maintained, some amazing things can come about.

Although it is a point that has almost fallen into the realm of cliché, Steve Jobs truly understood these similarities. In fact, his accomplishments demonstrate the interconnectedness of creative artistic thinking and computer science. He is quoted as saying that,

"I think our major contribution [to computing] was in bringing a liberal arts point of view to the use of computers. If you really look at the ease of use of the Macintosh, the driving motivation behind that was to bring not only ease of use to people — so that many, many more people could use computers for nontraditional things at that time — but it was to bring beautiful fonts and typography to people, it was to bring graphics to people ... so that they could see beautiful photographs, or pictures, or artwork, et cetera ... to help them communicate. ... Our goal was to bring a liberal arts perspective and a liberal arts audience to what had traditionally been a very geeky technology and a very geeky audience." (NPR)

Like Jobs suggests, computers and computer science should be universal. In an effort to accomplish this goal, he found a creative solution involving the actual fusion of art and code that in turn made computers more accessible and more useful to the average person. However, he did not just use technology to create art. In fact, he did the opposite. He used art to create useable technology.

It is accurate to say that art class made me love art; but more importantly, it made me value creativity. Thus far, my experience with computer science is reinforcing the value of the same concepts: planning, vision, creativity and perseverance. Oh, and time. Don’t let me forget that.

By no stretch of any possible definition, am I a computer science prodigy. I do not have aspirations of writing the next five editions of The Art and Science of Java nor do I consider myself competent enough to even phone Palantir’s office to ask for a brochure. And, you know what? I’m okay with that, for the moment at least. I think it’s amazing that I have the time now in my life to start learning something completely new, to start fresh and to make mistakes. But now I digress into that touchy-feely-ness that only seems to single me out as the artsy-fartsy kid. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to exclude me from exploring the world of computer science. 

For Further Reference:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bjork-biophilia/id434122935?mt=8

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http://formandcode.com/