[greatzebu]

Obviously elegance, aesthetics, and a desire for personal improvement are common factors between these professions. But I've spent a lot of time with writers, scientists, and mathematicians, and I've very rarely heard any of them analogize the process of improving at their work to carpentry or other skilled physical labor. But I hear this analogy from programmers all the time. Programmers talk about sharpening their saw instead of talking about writing another draft, even though to my mind programming is much closer to writing than it is to carpentry. That's what I wonder about.