Code is Poetry?

10 May, 2023

We programmers love to say – Coding is Poetry.

And, this is a problem.

Coding is poetry for me as long as I am the only author of the code and I am not getting paid for my code. Once the code has multiple authors or once the code starts to sell, it becomes a document that must be understandable and collaboratable by humans.

Once collaboration begins, conflict arises because different poetic styles start to fight with one another. So, I prefer to write code that is understandable and collaboratable by humans, rather than satisfying my poetic desire.

PS: I didn’t find the term collaboratable in dictionary, but it made sense to use it here.

Updated: 29.05.2026

With the latest AI capabilities, the ‘Coding is Poetry’ idea is already facing an existential crisis. The things that are worth debating are Human-Human and Human-AI collaboration in software development.