I agree with this.<p>Perhaps a way to refine this understanding is to consider a different medium more typically believed to be artistic: film.<p>A director will construct the artistic vision (akin to the requirements&#x2F;concept) and then work with film music composer to add music (analogous to development).   Is the composer and artist practicing art?  I would suggest that the word &quot;craftsman&quot; is better suited to the work the film composer does (assuming that they aren&#x27;t also directing).  That doesn&#x27;t mean that a film composer cannot also be an artist in his&#x2F;her own right, but in this context their input is arbitrarily limited by the artistic vision of the director... even if the director&#x27;s vision allows for significant discretion by the composer.<p>Most development work, as you point out, has this separation of creative impulse from the implementing crafts.  I do think there is &quot;art&quot; involved in programming, but only when the creative impulse is joined with the craft of development in a single mind.