Is it art or the technology

[Rodzo]

I've always considered perceived division between art and science to be arbitrary rather than reasonable and owed more to the mindcast of their respective practitioners than the various disciplines themselves. As a person with an engineering background who moved to programming I became aware of an aspect of neat, spare, elegant code that I valued greatly and could only be described as "artistic". Though I still value function over form I have realized that to encapsulate both in harmony results in a thing greater than the sum of it's parts, and worth striving for. So . . what was the question? . . Oh yes . . No. It's not important. One hand washes the other. They are complimentary. One lot should rejoice because their labours have resulted in tools that aid clarity of expression and the creation of beauty. The other lot should be happy that these tools have given more power to their elbows, as well as helped them to keep their fingers clean.

[David O'Neil]

Tartology!

[GeoBen]

unlike many here, I cannot draw worth a fiddlers fart by hand (some might say i cant draw with Xara either, but we will skip lightly over that) and, as steve and' others say, i want xara as a drawing tool.

Rodzo makes great points (and does it with enviable skills... one of the best written posts i have read here). I too was a coder who viewed what an app does and HOW it does it to be inseparable, even artistic. Beauty is where we find it, as someone said once.

I use computers to make up for what I lack, or to help me do what i do well, better. As such, i want small, fast, powerful apps. i wont say that I dont care about the 'specs' but, in my audio system, it is the music pouring out that matters most. A camera is a tool. The best work I have done was with the simplest cameras (I currently use a 20 year old OM10, a gift from a beautiful and generous woman, with a single 0-250 zoom).

As for drawing, I need a powerful app to take my ideas and make them real. This doesn't mean the app with the most or the most sophisticated features, it means the best, most intuitive implementation of the features that I need. Again, the simplest is probably the best, even if its 'simplicity' is an illusion.

geo.

[Tallis]

Think about gear heads who love cars, and talk about horsepower. It's about toys, and power. It's about potential, about capability, about being equiped, about showing off your belt buckle in the sun...

handrawn:

do you have to pay when Sarah X comes up with a new feature?

[handrawn]

about showing off your belt buckle in the sun...

Hummmm bin a while since I worried about that sort of thing.... besides, sun is a rarity round here

handrawn:

do you have to pay when Sarah X comes up with a new feature?

in a word yes [usually].
which is fair enough since its a commercial venture.

[Rodzo]

Why thank you Geo. You're obviously a gentleman of taste and discernment but, I fear, a little too kind. Lent courage by your praise I showed the wife, who assured me (bless her) that it was just my usual drivel.

[Ron Duke]

I am me. I like to draw...

me