After reading a few chapters of Software Creativity 2.0, my post Software Engineer vs. Code Artist came to mind. With abundant talk about how creativity is art, I thought there must be one example even I (in my dogmatic ideal) could agree is an example of code artistry – linguists.

Computer languages are as elegant as spoken languages with an additional twist of mathematical beauty. People like Alan Kay and Dennis Ritchie are pivotal to the evolution of computer languages. Smalltalk and C are cornerstone languages even today in modern OO languages such as Java and C#. This means, by nature, the maximum elegance of any solution is bound by the language that we use to create it.

This is a very important point to make because if we boil everything down to linguistics we will find that there exists both practitioners and artists. For example, I am bound to writing in the English language. As a result, I am reduced to what I can fully represent even while writing this post. Furthermore, just because I am using the English language does not imply that I am an artist or even a good practitioner of it.

This is where I come back around full circle. In Software Engineer vs. Code Artist I was brash saying we are not artists. Developers need to wear both hats of engineer and artist. However, I will debate that every developer does not have the right to call themselves an artist when most are not even good practitioners. If literature has writers (that write grammatically correct and artistically) then code must first have engineers and then artists. It is improbable that great artistic pieces of code can be produced by someone who as not mastered the grammatical aspects of their language or understand best engineering practices.

Art is the product of passion. Passionate developers learn new engineering processes. In turn, it will be the passionate engineer that turns into the artist.

I do not normally post hardware reviews, but it seems like headphones are a common tool of the trade. Additionally, I can not stop gushing about this product. Long story short: OMG, I am so deaf! Best headphones ever.

For sometime I had been looking to replace my current headphones. Like an old baseball cap, my Sony headphones were comfortably broken-in and ever reliable. Unfortunately, their old age had started to show and it was time to retire them. I searched high and low and to no avail suitable replacements were never found.

A recent trip to the local Best Buy turned fruitful when my eye caught the Skull Candy brand. I tested two models – Lowrider and Skullcrusher. I couldn’t resist the most wicked brand name ever and bought the Skullcrushers. I have not stopped grinning since.

First, both the Lowriders and Skullcrushers are amazing in the high to mid ranges. Crisp and clear sound at every volume level. The low mid to low range is where they begin to differ.

I was slightly disappointed with the Lowriders in the low mid range. My coding music is predominately techno, and my old headphones out played the Lowriders in this range. As a result, I had to say goodbye to these headphones.

Then came the Skullcrushers. Compared to the Lowriders, the Skullcrushers are heavier and slightly more clumsy. Immediately, I felt that these headphones were very comfortable; ones I could wear for 24+ hours. I gave these headphones a test drive with Prodigy – Hyperspeed. Now I have a detached retina. When they mean subwoofer headphones, they really mean subwoofer headphones. Physically these headphones vibrate with bass.

Next up, I tried a little Weezer and NOFX just to make sure that the Skullcrushers were not too bass heavy. At the Prodigy bass level (50%), they sounded amazing. If that much bass is not for you, it is always adjustable.

The Good

• Amazing sound quality
• Very comfortable
• Resonably priced: Lowrider:$39 – Skullcrusher:$69
• Lifetime warranty under normal use. 50% warranty under any use
• Comes with a fun sticker (shut up, I like stickers)

The Bad

• Short 5′ chord
• Skullcrushers have awakward battery box
• Skullcrushers battery lifetime (1AA) < 40 hours of heavy use.
• Lowriders weak in the lower ranges
• Lowriders leak some sound due to DJ flips

The combination of clear highs and the ability to tune in the lows make the Skull Candy brand the hottest to date. Jazz boppers and metal heads alike can appreciate these headphones as they will bring home stereo sound into the office.

Skullcandy SC-LOW Lowrider

Skullcandy SCS-SCBP3.5 Skullcrushers

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