[theturtletalks]

I got the idea from an old post on here called Story of Mel[0] where OP talks about the beauty of Mel's intricate machine code on a RPC-4000.

This is the part that always stuck with me:

I have often felt that programming is an art form, whose real value can only be appreciated by another versed in the same arcane art; there are lovely gems and brilliant coups hidden from human view and admiration, sometimes forever, by the very nature of the process. You can learn a lot about an individual just by reading through his code, even in hexadecimal. Mel was, I think, an unsung genius.

0. http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html

[coolewurst]

Thank you for sharing that story. Mel seems virtuousic, but is that really art? Optimizing pattern positioning on a drum for maximum efficiency. Is that expression?

[maxbond]

> Is that expression?

If it wasn't expression everyone would get the same result. But no one else at Royal McBee did things the way Mel Kaye did things.

Kaye had a strong artistic vision for how things should be done; he didn't want to use the ergonomic features of the RPC-4000 because they didn't align with his vision. I think he found the idea of rigging the blackjack program offensive in part for the same reason.

Speaking for myself, I have always found the story and "pessimal" instructions beautiful. It's my favorite piece of folklore of all time. Kaye and Nather are both artists to me.

Tangentially, Kaye is standing on the far right in this photo.

https://zappa.brainiac.com/MelKaye.png

And here is Nather.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Nather#/media/File:Ednather...

[Abstract_Typist]

If you consider engineering the art of the possible. (Yes, I know it's a politician's phrase, that's because politics is the art of the plausible ... )