I still believe programmers should not fall in love with their specific technology. While I know very little about art, I’d stretch that to say artists shouldn’t fall in love with a medium, either. If I only work in sculpture, I might miss a great way to express what I’m feeling by using watercolor. Okay, like I said, I don’t know much about art.
But I know plenty of programming languages. They are good for different things, in different circumstances. Some take more time to truly master. To be able to do anything in Perl takes a true artist’s touch. I use it for brute force, obvious things. I can grab a roller and paint a room, but if you give me the same paint and a large wall, I can’t make a mural.
Some languages, like PHP, give a little more of a boundary–a canvas. It still takes a certain flair to be able to put things in the right place, but there are some constraints to make the choices easier.
Then there are the simpler languages, like Cold Fusion and ASP.NET that try to give a little more direction. This is basically paint-by-number. That’s not meant as a dig (well, maybe against CF), just a truth about that medium. You can still make some great stuff, but sometimes you have to change the numbers around.
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