Computer programming

Here's a good description of computer programming, published in today's Guardian:

High-level programming can be like mathematics or music: it brings order and harmony out of chaos. There is a fundamental sense in which everything is clearly right or wrong. A note is either in tune or it is not. A solution is either correct for an equation or it is wrong. A program - well, it fails to work. But eventually, some work right, and when they do there is an extraordinary feeling that the necessary, unarguable structure of the world has been revealed. In this way, programming is more like physics than pure mathematics, because if you apply the right logical or mathematical transformations to your input what comes out is not merely satisfying on its own terms but appears to rule the world as well.

The author Andrew Brown's weblog, Helmintholog, often has interesting posts and is worth adding to your favourite news reader.