What Poems and Code Have in Common

... Both require precision, and poetry usually also involves some degree of linguistic compactness. Also, just as software executes within the context of an operating system, poetry likewise “executes” within the psyche of the reader. A few lines in either form can have a profound impact, sending memory pointers in myriad directions.

While it is the context within which either form executes that largely determines the result, even the slightest adjustments in either form can have a significant effect. Subtlety, clarity, and intimacy with the language are all required traits that get amplified through the power of each discipline.

- Robert Peake