Book excerpt: This book gives students and experienced programmers a way to see coding as an art and themselves as artists whose personal views, experiences, and ways of thinking can make their programs better for themselves and their users. This book shows in a good-humored and sympathetic way how the artistic and practical sides of programming are the same, delving into the methods of coding, the history of art, and the ways in which artists and audiences interact and benefit each other. Not confined to a single language or style of coding, this book provides a widely applicable framework for people to learn what languages and styles work best for them at present and as the field evolves. It can be used as a classroom text or for personal study and enrichment.