Turkish Crafts

From an exhibit at the New Mexico State Museum...

Turkish craftsmen acknowledge three levels of work:

• The first level is the creation of everyday objects with reasonable craftsmanship. This work pays the bills.
• The second level is the creation of masterpieces which prove the craftsman's total control of all techniques of the craft. This work proves the craftsman's worthiness to be part of the guild.
• The third level is the creation of objects of sublime beauty that wed function with just the right touches of extraordinary craft. This work feeds the soul.

Software could use such a hierarchy. Many engineering problems can be solved by pointing out that an engineer is working on a problem at one level using techniques from another.

See also: SoftwareDevelopmentAsCraft