In visual arts, minimalism was a movement that emphasized non-figurative, non-emotive, abstract art. There’s no need to refer to the world – the shapes and the materials make the piece of art interesting in itself.
In computing, minimalism refers to something else. Mostly it’s about reduction and parsimony. But I wonder: are there programs that would fit the visual arts definition of minimalism?
The programs relate to the world by solving problems. The minimalist program should be afunctional. It should not solve problem – it should exist because the computation itself is worth of our attention.
Can you think of such programs? My suggestion would be quine, a program that prints its own source code.