Programming is Art / 编程即艺术

Programming is art. When I started programming, my whole day revolved around development. I’d wake up, write code, and go to sleep. And that’s how it was day in and day out. My entire social circle consisted of people who also wrote code. I studied frameworks, libraries, and various programming languages.

编程即艺术。当我刚开始编程时，我的整天都围绕着开发工作。我醒来、写代码，然后睡觉。日复一日，生活皆是如此。我的整个社交圈里都是同样写代码的人。我钻研各种框架、库和编程语言。

I got into development because I was fascinated by the idea that by writing code, I could create new programs. All I needed to do was learn how to program, and I’d be able to create anything. If I learned PHP, I could build back-end applications. If I learned HTML and CSS, I could build websites.

我投身开发是因为我被这样一个想法深深吸引：通过编写代码，我可以创造出新的程序。我所要做的就是学习如何编程，这样我就能创造任何东西。如果我学会了 PHP，我就能构建后端应用；如果我学会了 HTML 和 CSS，我就能构建网站。

I could choose what I wanted to create, learn the necessary technologies for it, and start building. You open an IDE, create a new project, and build it from scratch. You choose patterns, libraries, and frameworks; you read the documentation and dive into the source code. You get so immersed in the process that you don’t even notice how the days fly by. Over time, you develop your own coding style.

我可以选择自己想创造的东西，学习相关的必要技术，然后开始构建。你打开 IDE，创建一个新项目，从零开始搭建。你选择模式、库和框架；你阅读文档，深入研究源代码。你会沉浸在过程中，甚至察觉不到时光飞逝。久而久之，你便形成了自己的编码风格。

I wrote code, and I enjoyed writing code, but it wasn’t the kind of work I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I preferred creating something new to the actual process of writing code. I liked starting from scratch — with nothing but an idea — to create a product that people actually use. That’s why I’ve always worked exclusively at startups and never at large companies.

我写代码，也享受写代码的过程，但这并不是我余生想从事的工作。比起单纯的编码过程，我更喜欢创造新事物。我喜欢从零开始——仅凭一个想法——去创造出人们真正使用的产品。这就是为什么我一直只在初创公司工作，而从未去过大公司。

I’ve always dreamed of advancing my career — to become a team lead, a manager, or to take on another role that didn’t involve writing code. And whenever someone else could write the code, I’d shift away from coding toward managerial tasks. Whether I wrote the code myself or delegated it to others didn’t matter to me.

我一直梦想着职业晋升——成为团队负责人、经理，或者担任其他不需要写代码的角色。每当有其他人可以接手代码工作时，我就会从编码转向管理任务。至于代码是我亲手写的还是委派给别人的，对我来说并不重要。

Although I got into development out of an interest in creating things, later on I did it solely because I was getting paid for it. For me, it was just a job. Even though I wrote code in my free time, I still used that approach to build my own startups, which I planned to make money from. Writing code and making money were inseparable. Over time, income from projects became the main focus, rather than simply the desire to create projects.

虽然我最初是因为对创造事物的兴趣而进入开发领域，但后来我做这件事仅仅是因为能拿到报酬。对我来说，这只是一份工作。即使我在业余时间写代码，我依然用这种方式来建立自己的初创项目，并计划从中获利。写代码和赚钱变得密不可分。随着时间的推移，项目的收入成了核心焦点，而不再仅仅是创造项目的渴望。

But there’s another type of person. These are true programmers who write code regardless of income. They write code simply because they can’t help but write it. It doesn’t matter to them how much money they make from it. They might work on open-source projects that will never generate any income for them.

但还有另一类人。他们是真正的程序员，无论收入如何都会坚持写代码。他们写代码仅仅是因为他们无法停止。他们不在乎能从中赚多少钱。他们可能会致力于那些永远无法带来任何收入的开源项目。

They enjoy writing code, solving development challenges, designing, figuring out the logic, fixing bugs, and understanding the entire system as a whole. They enjoy the process itself. And they’ll never hand that over to AI agents.

他们享受编写代码、解决开发难题、进行设计、理清逻辑、修复 Bug 以及从整体上理解整个系统的过程。他们享受过程本身。他们永远不会把这些交给 AI 代理。

I love building startups, and they love writing code. For me, building projects is a way to make money. For them, programming is art.

我热爱建立初创公司，而他们热爱编写代码。对我来说，构建项目是赚钱的手段；对他们来说，编程即艺术。

That’s why all my arguments about how AI helps me build projects are completely irrelevant to true artists. They don’t need AI to help them with anything.

这就是为什么我关于“AI 如何帮助我构建项目”的所有论点，对于真正的艺术家来说都毫无意义。他们不需要 AI 帮他们做任何事。

And that’s why there’s often a negative reaction to the claim that AI will soon replace all programmers. For artists, this claim itself is illogical. Even if some technological breakthrough occurs and AI can truly work autonomously and solve problems hundreds of times faster than humans, people will still continue to write code by hand, line by line. AI will never be able to take away their ability and desire to write code.

这就是为什么当有人声称“AI 将很快取代所有程序员”时，往往会引发负面反应。对于艺术家而言，这种说法本身就不合逻辑。即使未来出现某种技术突破，AI 能够真正自主工作并以比人类快数百倍的速度解决问题，人们依然会继续一行一行地亲手编写代码。AI 永远无法剥夺他们编写代码的能力和渴望。

I don’t use AI when writing. It produces soulless, bland text. AI slop that no one wants to read. I want to come up with the wording myself, proofread and edit the text, come up with a title, and delete unnecessary sentences and entire paragraphs. I like it when new ideas for the text come to me as I’m writing. The writing process itself — the thinking that goes on in the moment — is important to me, not just the result.

我写作时不用 AI。它产出的文字苍白无魂，是没人想读的 AI 垃圾。我希望自己构思措辞、校对编辑、拟定标题，并删掉多余的句子和段落。我喜欢在写作过程中涌现新想法的感觉。写作过程本身——即当下的思考——对我来说比结果更重要。

If I asked an AI to write a text on the topic “Programming is art”, that thought process wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t experience the same emotions that come with writing it myself. For me, writing is art that I pursue regardless of money. I think people who enjoy writing code feel the same way.

如果我让 AI 写一篇关于“编程即艺术”的文章，那种思考过程就不会发生。我也无法体验到亲手写作时所带来的情感。对我而言，写作是我无论金钱与否都会追求的艺术。我想，那些享受写代码的人也有同样的感受。