"The source of the exhilaration associated with computer programming is the continual unfolding within the mind and on the computer of mechanisms expressed as programs and the explosion of perception they generate. If art interprets our dreams, the computer executes them in the guise of programs!"
This viewpoint is described well in the Preface to the First Edition of Structure and Interpretation of Computer programs, 2nd paragraph:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-7.html
I would suggest reading the whole Preface. It's quite an inspirational work for this field.