[praptak]

I agree with D. Knuth here: software is an "art", but rather like in "artisan" not in "artist". In this context "art" means something that has some good established practices but is not yet science.

Full article here: http://www.paulgraham.com/knuth.html

This is a discussion about meaning of words, so appeal to authority finishes the argument :)

[dutchflyboy]

Hmm, good point, there is quite a difference. But still, I think most software problems wouldn't exist if there were more engineers (=theoretical knowledge) than artisans (=practical knowledge). But that's another discussion.