[jariel]

'Carpenter' is a far more suitable comparison because almost zero of software is written 'for abstract reasons'. Software is almost always written for practical reasons.

Real carpentry involves an immense amount of detail, nuance, and a number of micro-skills you'd never imagine just to do mundane things.

It also keeps the analogy that a lot of people think they can be carpenters because they 'can build a deck'. But even building a deck, well, can be quite hard and require bits of skill that can take years to develop. A lot of people think they can write software as well. Though it's possible to hack things together quickly, it takes years of focus to 'get good'.

I suggest that nobody in the educated class wants to compare themselves to what people often consider 'blue collar workers' whereas the comparison to 'artists' evokes a more supposedly distinguished aspiration.

Having known enough 'master tradesman' frankly I have more respect for them than most artists I know. That said, I'm not sure where in the quality range the artists I know sit.