Code work blends functional computer code with creative composition.
Matt Kirschenbaum 2010, Hello Worlds: Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Program
I believe that humanities students should take the time to learn how to code, even at just a beginner level. In today’s ever-digital world, how could it hurt? Coding is becoming an increasingly-large part of work in modern times and allows for an untapped creativity that is only getting better and better. One argument that I see for why humanities students shouldn’t code is that it “harms” the art being created and that specialization exists so that humanities students shouldn’t have to code. For the argument about “harming” art, art takes many forms in ways you may not think. Art isn’t just paintings, music, books, etc. Art can be a great play made during a sports game, or a delicious meal that you just cooked. Coding is much the same. You can use words like beautiful to describe a line of code, especially when that code has taken a lot of time and preparation to get right. For the argument about specialization, we just had the reading by Debbie Chacra where she makes the point that people who make things should not be shoehorned in together as just “makers”. Someone who codes should not be confined to only coding and humanities students should not be confined to only the humanities. Specialization does not mean that you should simply not do something just because there are people who do it better and take advantage of an opportunity to learn something new and of increasing value.
I have had opportunities to learn the code, but I haven’t taken advantage of those opportunities and I regret it. It is such an important skill and in extremely high demand, so why shouldn’t I take the opportunity to learn something that is important, applicable, and desirable in the real world? I’m excited to learn more in this class and other classes I take in the future.
2 thoughts on “Coding: Humanities Asset or Detriment?”
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I really like your point that code is art! I agree that art comes in many different forms, and there is definitely something beautiful about the creativity and freedom of coding, two things that are also present in the traditional “arts.” I also really like your code snippet! Since you say you regret not taking the opportunity to learn to code, do you think you will invest in a self-study of programming sometime in the future?
I also love your argument of code being a form of art, rather than being an opposing force to art in the humanities. Learning to code isn’t going to discredit or even significantly replace the art being created in humanities, in fact, I’d argue that it compliments it. When physical exhibits are made, coding a digital version will make the exhibit more accessible to those who can’t access the physical form. Also, if you really want to learn to code, I strongly suggest doing Codeacademy whenever you have the free time.