¿Útil o bello?

Have nothing in your house that you do not know o be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

The title is a quote by William Morris, a man with a deep interest in design and its relationship to our place in society. I think it applies to ideas as well as artifacts, and I must warn you that the following ideas fall under “beautiful” :-)

(A mathematical discussion about the halting problem follows).

Which brings me around to the title. Computer Science is a big field. Programming is a big field. Working for a living developing software is a big field. I believe you have to pick and choose, you can’t learn everything, you can’t try to pick up every new thing that comes along.

But I believe that if you follow Morris’ dictum, you will be effective and also deeply engaged. Do not settle for mediocre ideas. Accept only those things that are useful, beautiful or both. Do not settle for just beautiful of just useful. It is surprising how often useful things help you build beauty, and likewise how often beautiful things turn out to be useful in a different context.

(tomado de Have nothing in your house that you do not know o be useful, or believe to be beautiful")