However the counter argument that programming is completely contrived by humans and is a lazy way of problem solving could be made. There may not be the same inherent universal truths found in programming that are found in the other pure sciences. It is not so much a study of what is around us, but creation of ours that we have contrived from logical thought. An intrinsical part of science is the experimental idea of discovery. Programming could in some way be considered a series of trial and error experiments, but this is probably a contortion of the true spirit of experimental science.
Programming is problem solving rather than an observational discipline.
We are unlikely to directly understand the world better through programming, although logical thought may be furthered through the study of it. So perhaps the scientific point of programming may not be a direct study of the world around us such as the pure sciences but as the development of a way of facilitating further scientific research. If you don't like this site, blame this guy. Its all his fault. He is the lecturer of the 2BA7 Computers In Society Course in Trinity College Dublin.