Pilnmēness nogurdinātie - 28. Janvāris 2009

For informed opinions, let's turn to programmers who are actually musicians. I thought Rob Birdwell, who left a single plaintive 2003 blog entry on his programming blog, summarized it well:

• Let's be practical: musicians become programmers, generally not the other way around, simply because those gigs actually pay the bills.
• Creating music and software are simultaneously collaborative and individualistic undertakings.
• Musicians, regardless of era, are generally technically engaged. The instruments themselves (the hardware) often interface with other devices (amps, mixers, mutes) to achieve different sounds. Composers often deal with an array of technologies to get their music written, performed and/or produced.
• Music is an abstract medium - the printed note requires interpretation and execution. Like the written line of code, there is often much more than meets the eye.
• Music is a form of self-expression. Many programmers, often to the dismay of corporate managers, try to express themselves through code.
• One famous music educator, Dick Grove, once said that composers/musicians often like to solve puzzles. (Dick Grove was very computer saavy - although I'm not sure he wrote code, I wouldn't doubt his ability to do so.)