[garysweaver]

It is both. Code and the effect it produces can be a thing of beauty, ugliness, or both, and at times the emotion and creative energy put into it would make it rival any art. But, I agree that more often it is like a craft because it tends to evolve into larger projects that need more skill and technique.

Creatives/artistic types enjoy modular, greenfield development or pushing the limits of confinement to produce something of beauty and use. Practical/craftsman/engineer types enjoy using technique to build, design, and maintain large systems because they enjoy process, skill, and established ways of doing things. There is room for both.