Clutter

As a software developer I consider myself aligned with creative workers like designers and architects. As such we have similar goals of solving problems with beauty and order (with a little randomness thrown in).

Perhaps as programmers we feel a little inferior or less developed as creative people because we (or I anyway) feel just ever so jealous each time we see a photo of a designer's desk—it's so beautifully neat, tidy, organised, and usually white (or perhaps light wood grain).

But most (not just a few) developers' desks are horrendously messy. Few dress *really* well and who wouldn't admit to a half empty coffee cup/coke can under their desk.

So that got me to thinking, perhaps there is a reason for this disparity.

The working representation of a designer's or architect's work is visual—something you can see, hold, spread out. Your eyes take it in and you form new ideas. Visual cleanliness and neutrality of their surroundings is probably essential.

The working representation of a developer, however, is the code. Occasionally the UI on the screen, but mostly the code. When a programmer is working hard, he is lost in the code itself—the stream of tokens (words), the imaginary mental model of associated objects, structures, relationships. Without getting all Matrix-y, the developer genuinely *sees* the program, and it is cleanliness and order in the code, the structure and these relationships in the program that are essential and the developer is temporarily oblivious to their surroundings (visual and auditory).

If you're not a developer yourself, just ask the spouse of one and you will find that the above is true (at least the being lost in something other than the world around them part :)

So if a good designer or architect may be respected for the way they refuse to give in to clutter, then good programmers should be respected for the way they insist on the right structure, or continually refactor, even when there might seem to be a quicker or cheaper way. Sometimes they may seem to be anal-retentive, but you will be grateful in the future when their creations stand the test of time.

Einstein Image via swissmiss.