I believe that, as a developer, I’m closer to an artist than an engineer. I see software development as a creative endeavour. One that lets you express yourself in many different ways and generate much more than just 1s and 0s.

But, of course, not all programs or systems are artistically pleasant by themselves. That’s why, when the Inakos needed a flyer for a talk at the ECI that represented the idea of beautiful code, I wanted to be sure to write something actually beautiful. That’s why I borrowed the lyrics of one of the most magnificent songs in history and remixed it using my favorite language: Erlang.

It’s a song that means a lot to me, because it meant a lot to my father (who was also a programmer) and I didn’t fully understand it until I had a son of my own. The first time I sung this song to my kid something clicked in and I finally understood what it meant and how true it was. I wrote the original post right after my son’s 3rd birthday and to this day (a few days before his sixth one) I still think it’s one of my most precious pieces of code.

The Original (Updated)

So, here you have it, one of my favorite songs of all time, but now in Erlang:

For those who have actually read the original, you’ll notice I updated it a bit… with things I learned over these years. I hope you don’t mind.