On 12/13/06, minh thu
Another difference with music that strikes me is the level of abstraction : a note is a note. A line of code (especially in a imperative setting) is much more than a line of code. Ok, one can argue that notes interact together but, imo, not in the same way line of code can do.
Programming is complex, you have to layer code on codeon code. Music is quite 'direct', you hear it without thinking.
I'm not sure that's right, though. Just as a line of code seems to be simple but what's going on at the hardware level is very complex, a musical note is simple but what goes in inside your brain when you hear one is extremely complex, poorly understood, and the details of it aren't accessible to you consciously. You say "you hear it without thinking" -- exactly, you feel like you're "not thinking" because of all of the amazingly complicated things that are going on inside. No program is nearly that complex! I suppose I must be channeling Hofstadter. Cheers, Kirsten -- Kirsten Chevalier* chevalier@alum.wellesley.edu *Often in error, never in doubt "One of these days and it won't be long / Going down in the valley and sing my song Gonna sing it loud, sing it strong / Let the echo decide if I was right or wrong" -- Bob Dylan