The Poetics of Code

1
The Poetics of Code

• LCC 2700 Intro to Computational Media

2
Aesthetics

• The philosophy of art
• Immanuel Kant (18th c) - the philosophy of
  perception
• The criticism of taste
• Literary, Visual, Gastronomic, Musical

3
Poetics

• Aristotle, a subset of aesthetics (with rhetoric)
• The first literary theory
• On poetry a form that carries out imitation
• Principally advice on writing tragedy
• Completeness beginning, middle, end
• Unity of action plot
• Struggle agôn
• Comedy imitation of low behaviors (presumably
  to encourage avoiding them)

4
Programming

• Weve been talking about procedurality as it
  produces expression
• But is programming itself art?
• Is there an inter-relation between programs
  themselves and procedural expression?

5
Programming Style

• Standards for composing code
• Readability
• Variable names
• Consistency
• Comments
• Typography
• Indentations
• Line breaks
• Searchability
• Naming
• Evocative variable names

6
Hungarian Notation

• A naming convention in which the name of a
  variable indicates its type
• Prefixes for variable names
• strName, sName
• intAge, iAge
• lngUserId, lUid
• datHireDate, datHire

7
Programming Efficiency

• Class structure
• Careful use of inheritence
• Final and other special directives
• Methods should do one thing
• When to class based on the environment (J2SE v.
  J2ME)
• Use error control for exceptions, not for flow
  control
• Python forces indentation for control flow

8
Coding Standards or Conventions

• get a b c
• if a lt 12 and b lt 60 and c lt 60
• return true
• else
• return false
• if(hourslt12minuteslt60secondslt60)return
  trueelsereturn false

get hours minutes seconds if hours lt 12 and
minutes lt 60 and seconds lt 60 return true else
return false if (hours lt 12 minutes lt 60
seconds lt 60) return true else
return false
9
Programming Style

• Focused on productivity
• Collaboration and complexity
• Taken for granted (consider auto-formatting IDEs)
• Code as seen only by technical workers, and only
  used to produce programmatic output

10
Programming Languages

• Themselves designed for maximum productivity
• Object-oriented programming as a kind of Fordist
  manufacturing process
• Automatic Factory?
• Produce poetic output
• Facilitate poetic productivity

11
Code and the Program

• HTML as a possible example
• The markup and the layout are both viewable to
  the end user
• The markups quality is part of the experience
• How did they do that (e.g., the single pixel)

12
Upsetting the constraints of languages

• International Obfuscated C Code Contest
• Hello World One , Two
• Palindrome
• She Loves Me
• Poot
• Factorial (compare this and the last to
  Apollinaires Calligrammes)
• Typing
• Christmas Tree

13
New Languages

• Entire programming languages devoted to
  constrained code-level and execution-level
  expression!
• Alternate flow control Whenever
• Compresion Brainfuck
• Programming from Hell Malebolge
• Statement redundancy Ook
• Code as visual aesthetics Piet
• Code as literature Shakespeare
• Code as cooking Chef

14
Hello World in Brainfuck

• gtgtgtgtltltltlt-gt.gt.
  ...gt.ltlt.gt..------.---
  -----.gt.gt.

15
Hello World in Brainfuck

• gtgtgtgtltltltlt-
• The initial loop to set up useful values in the
  array
• gt. print 'H
• gt. print 'e
• . 'l'
• . 'l
• . 'o
• gt. space
• ltlt. 'W
• gt. 'o
• . 'r
• ------. 'l
• --------. 'd
• gt. '!
• gt. newline

16
Hello World in Malebolge

• (lt9876Z4321UT.Q)M'H"!Bzy?zKwZY44Eq
  0/mlk hKs_dG5m_BA?-YVb'rR5431M/.zHGwEDCBA_at_
  986543W10/.R,Olt

17
Project 7 - Write a program in Chef

• It must compile and run. It need not be the most
  meaningful program, but it must execute and do
  something coherent
• It must read like a coherent recipe. That is, the
  source code should be as readable as the
  executable code, and it should make sense as a
  recipe.
• If you want an 'A', your recipe must also be
  coherent enough to be prepared in the real world.
  This is harder than it sounds.
• Extra credit (5 points) for anyone who brings in
  a version of their Chef code for us to eat in
  class.

18
Hello World in Chef

• Hello World Souffle.
• This recipe prints the immortal words "Hello
  world!", in a basically brute force way. It also
  makes a lot of food for one person.
• Ingredients.
• 72 g haricot beans
• 101 eggs
• 108 g lard
• 111 cups oil
• 32 zucchinis
• 119 ml water
• 114 g red salmon
• 100 g dijon mustard
• 33 potatoes
• Method.
• Put potatoes into the mixing bowl. Put dijon
  mustard into the mixing bowl. Put lard into the
  mixing bowl. Put red salmon into the mixing bowl.
  Put oil into the mixing bowl. Put water into the
  mixing bowl. Put zucchinis into the mixing bowl.
  Put oil into the mixing bowl. Put lard into the
  mixing bowl. Put lard into the mixing bowl. Put
  eggs into the mixing bowl. Put haricot beans into
  the mixing bowl. Liquefy contents of the mixing
  bowl. Pour contents of the mixing bowl into the
  baking dish.
• Serves 1.

19
My Sample Chef Program

• Danger Flu.
• Creates a very dangerous danger flu. Beware!
• Ingredients.
• 1 cup yogurt
• 5 g sneeze particulates
• 3 capers
• 4 chives
• 1 level teaspoon chopped parsley
• 1 rosemary sprig
• Method.
• Put yogurt into the mixing bowl. Combine chives.
  Put capers into the mixing bowl. Add chopped
  parsley into the mixing bowl. Pound the chives.
  Combine sneeze particulates into the mixing bowl.
  Stir the mixing bowl for 5 minutes. Beat chives
  until pounded. Remove capers. Liquify contents of
  the mixing bowl. Pour contents of the mixing bowl
  into the baking dish. Add capers. Add rosemary
  sprig. Stir for 2 minutes. Liquify contents of
  the mixing bowl. Pour contents of the mixing bowl
  into the baking dish.
• Serves 1.

20
Sample from last term

• Masterful Factorial Mashed Potatoes.
• Makes some dank mashed potatoes AND computes any
  factorials that might need
• computing! Upon executing the program it will
  wait for you to enter in an
• integer whose factorial you would like to
  compute. After doing so, the
• factorial will be computed and output to the
  standard output. Pre-heat
• temperature is roughly 350 degrees farenheight,
  although this has not been
• tested and the program will not seem to accept
  this mark, even in Celsius.
• Roughly speaking, cook until the top of the
  potatoes is generally golden
• brown with dark brown peaks at the highest
  points.
• Ingredients.
• 1 cup melted butter
• 5 g salt
• 1 kg baked potatoes
• 100 g chives
• 100 g pre-cooked bacon
• 100 g shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream

21

• Danger Flu.
• Creates a very dangerous danger flu. Beware!
• Ingredients.
• 1 cup yogurt
• 5 g sneeze particulates
• 3 capers
• 4 chives
• 1 level teaspoon chopped parsley
• 1 rosemary sprig
• Method.
• Put yogurt into the mixing bowl. Stack 1
• Combine chives. Stack 4
• Put capers into the mixing bowl. Stack 3 4
• Add chopped parsley into the mixing bowl. Stack
  4 4
• Pound the chives.

22
Code Aesthetics

• Absolutely beautiful. Reading it was just like
  hearing a symphony, because every instruction was
  sort of doing two things and everything came
  together gracefully
• Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming

23
Code Aesthetics

• plodding and excruciating to read, because it
  just didnt possess any wit whatsoever. It got
  the job done, but its use of the computer was
  very disappointing.
• Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming

24
Code Aesthetics

• Elegance
• Beauty
• Craftsmanship
• terms that are scarcely found in literary,
  artistic, and cultural criticism

25
Code Aesthetics

• A more sophisticated notion of code aesthetics

26
Types of Alternative Code Aesthetics

• Obfuscation
• Parody
• Minimalism
• Structured Play (Double-Coding, Multiple-Coding)
• Puzzle

27
Obfuscation

• Invert the clarity and beauty goals of
  programming
• Examples
• IOCCC
• JAPH

28
Obfuscation

• int imain()for(i"ltii)--i"read('-'-'-'
  ,i"hello,world!\n",'/'/'/'))read(j,i,p)writ
  e(j/pp,i---j,i/i)

29
Obfuscation

• int imain()for(i"ltii)--i"read('-'-'-'
  ,i"hello,world!\n",'/'/'/'))read(j,i,p)writ
  e(j/pp,i---j,i/i)
• Character arithmetic
• Redefining function names
• Omitting syntax (C flexibility)

30
Just Another Perl Hacker (JAPH)

• print "Just another Perl hacker,\n"
• Just Another Perl Hacker
• Code that prints Just another Perl hacker
• Leverage the flexibility of Perl (there are many
  ways to do it)

31
Just Another Perl Hacker (JAPH)

• _"krJhruaesrltre c a cnP,ohet"_.1,print2whi
  le s/(..)(.)//

32
Parody

• INTERCAL
• 1972, Don Woods, James Lyon (Princeton)
• Satirizes FORTRAN and COBOL, popular langauges of
  the time

33
INTERCAL

• DO ,1 lt- 13
• PLEASE DO ,1 SUB 1 lt- 234
• DO ,1 SUB 2 lt- 112
• DO ,1 SUB 3 lt- 112
• DO ,1 SUB 4 lt- 0
• DO ,1 SUB 5 lt- 64
• DO ,1 SUB 6 lt- 194
• DO ,1 SUB 7 lt- 48
• PLEASE DO ,1 SUB 8 lt- 22
• DO ,1 SUB 9 lt- 248
• DO ,1 SUB 10 lt- 168
• DO ,1 SUB 11 lt- 24
• DO ,1 SUB 12 lt- 16
• DO ,1 SUB 13 lt- 214
• PLEASE READ OUT ,1
• PLEASE GIVE UP

34
Minimalism

• Comment on the small amount of structure needed
  for universal computation
• Small number of language constructs
• Isomorphism among language constructs
• Brainfuck

35
Structured Play

• Using the free play in programming to create
  meaning at the level of code
• Characterized by a translation of statements into
  symbolic structures
• Variables as Shakespeare characters in
  Shakespeare
• Nouns as constants in Shakespeare with integer
  values
• Positive lord, angel, joy
• Negative bastard, beggar, Microsoft
• Neutral brother, cow, hair
• Program flow managed by commensurate symbolic
  constructs
• Open your heart, Speak your mind

36
Multicoding

• Double Coding expression at the level of code
  execution
• Multicoding expression on even more registers
• Chef
• Code
• Execution
• Preparation
• Consumption
• Ook
• Code
• Execution
• Parody
• Performance

37
Puzzle

• Provide counter-intuitive flow control,
  operators, syntax, etc. to make programming
  difficult
• Related to, but different from obfuscation
• Obfuscation comments on a particular language and
  its affordances
• Puzzle languages comment more generally on the
  process of programming
• Related to the history of puzzles and riddles
• Malbolge
• Designed for difficulty of use

38
Malbolge

• Trinary machine model
• Three-level digital logic (-1, 0, 1 o, 1, 2)
• Minimalism
• Counterintuitive flow
• Indirect instructions
• Malbolge performs transformations on instructions
• Three registers C, which points to the current
  instruction
• When the interpreter tries to execute a program,
  it first checks to see if the current instruction
  is a graphical ASCII character (33 - 126). If so,
  it subtracts 33, adds C, mods by 94, then uses
  the result as an index into the following table
  of 94 characters (omitted)
• After each instruction, the instruction set is
  modified
• Cryptography rather than programming

39
Features

• Reflexivity
• commentary about the languages themselves
• commentary about programming in general
• response to the efficiency goals of professional
  programming?
• Simplicity
• The large expressive possibility space derived
  from only a few affordances
• Cognitive challenge
• The inherent puzzle process in programming
• Other statements yet to be explored?

40
Expressive Spaces vs. Designed Tasks

• Compare Normans approach
• knowing what to do
• designing for error
• user-centered design
• Efficiency
• Intention
• Practicality

41
Some Design Problems May Not Open Possibility
Spaces
42
Others do
Exploration Error