Bauhaus & Software Development

It took me a while to realize this but I finally noticed the deep similitudes between software development and the Bauhaus school of design. My CS teacher and mentor, who was knowledgeable about almost everything, had a particular penchant for the Bauhaus: it only took me 16 years to grok why...

Quoting Wikipedia, "one of the main objectives of the Bauhaus was to unify art, craft, and technology". Is not this unification realized in software development? In fact, should not this unification be the basis of successful, satisfying and fulfilling endeavors in this field?

Technology - This is the easiest one. Software development is obviously about technology, as the concrete manifestation of scientific and engineering progresses. The smaller the transistors, the denser the processors, the more powerful the computers, the happiest the software developers!

Craft - Uncle Bob speaks about it better than I could ever dream of. He has just proposed a fifth element for the Agile Manifesto:

Craftsmanship over Execution
Most software development teams execute, but they don’t take care. We value execution, but we value craftsmanship more.

Art - The connection between software development and art is often controversial. Here, I will let Kent Beck convince you, with an excerpt of Implementation Patterns:

Aesthetics engage more of your brain than strictly linear logical thought. Once you have cultivated your sense of the aesthetics of code, the aesthetic impressions you receive of your code is valuable feedback about the quality of the code.

A superficial look at Bauhaus buildings or paintings may give an impression of coldness and impersonality. But if you look again while keeping in mind the objective to unify art, craft and technology in an harmonious design, you will see things differently.

Try with this:


Or that:

And now with that: