The relationship between programming and music.

birdwellmusic — Fri, 14 Nov 2003 20:31:00 GMT

Many programmers are musicians, artists or have other creative outlets. Some have attributed this to being left or right-brain oriented - there may be merit to that. My own experiences lead me to conclude:

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 - 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.)

There is an infinite variety in music, musical ideas, and styles. Programmers are faced with a vast array of tools, concepts and languages for expressing and translating these ideas into something that achieves yet another result.

So, do you how all this relates to ASP.NET? Well, no...but if you hum a few bars maybe I can fake it!

Rob Birdwell's Rarely Used .NET Blog

The relationship between programming and music.