gce pes ‘project ohne Beran Coxe itor David Gauthier, Jamie Aen ‘Jost Noble Maren fae Fst tation September 2012, 100 copes Seton Bition: Oetber 2012) 300 epice DPubishod by Hae Berea ‘Panto in darelona code poemecom © Asuct 2012, The Auhors “This hook and entunt fe enaed under a Creve ‘Conran sbaon NonCommerda! NeDests 3. ‘Unported LicenseFOREWORD In this room are images Teannot Hook at ‘Objects and people I eannot recognise ‘Codes [wil never decipher Books fill never road Tean see, fean hear 1 have my own language Poetry and computer code come out of language Many forme of poetry ean be thous of a= cade; sets of encrypled verses, to be read and reread Interpreted, “compiled” in the mind, The poet has lahiabs hae herty to play in this way because we are [at least) tice bora: once into this works, and ‘once into language. We kuow languages intimately, land are each virtuosic in aur own ways, at the SD ‘noning and conjuring that they allow code poems), ‘84 book, ie an experiment in the potential of tis zune intimacy, But in the realm of computer sft tare languages. It is a investigation of the explo- Sion of title forms and imaginative worlds that ooult from our close communion with simple syzz‘ols and their arrangement on the printed page Computer programmers, “coders,” can manipulate {he materiel of code in the same way’ a poet makes present the material of language, albeit with a mare esoteric, mathematical and restricted set of linguls- fie tools, The coder’ hleroglyphics offen include English-language phrasings, but these words take fon skewed and concentrated meaaings- In com: puter cade, constructions lee the “for-ioop” and the sifthen else are similar to their Englshelanguage ‘connotations, but they adopt new efficacies, new Itmport, new powers to contol the finaly physical syatems of hardware. And s0, the faci thet con temporuiy writers-oF- code have with thelr symbolic ystems i a differant one, but no less virtuosic, and for some no less intultive (f not more). There are those that dream in FORTRAN, and somewhere at thie very moment, an impassioned canveraation i= faking place in Bytien, Long term commitment sod time spent cresiing software changes a persoa's thought patterns. A lifetime apens authoring sef- ‘ware ca change the way a mind intersers with the world. As with any expressive form, software lan {guages change the way people chink, and this bas fed masp-effecte on culture ax a whole. Despite Substantial formal constraints, end intrinele stand Landivation, the programming syle of an author ix ‘a given Tnnguage is ever present in their code. At ‘with more “human languages,” (English, German, French, ete) machinie languages are never merely Jndicative or functional, Dut a writien condensation Of the mood, the personality, and the world-view” fof its author, & deeply hierarchical software de~ Sgn could indicate a cultural and political context In which a given software-hardware architecture (cvlves. ‘There are seasoned, readers who can dit ferentiate the austere code of Eastern European collaborator from the verbose, accessible style ofthe Silicon Valley coder Sve: within the strict rules and regulations of software, syle, manner and method fare distinctive, vance ana personal. ‘The sympathies that coders extend to their more or- ‘ganic readership (people) are vbvious, as they are Ssunly more lke what we all read daily. The use ff the human-readable “comment” faciity of com= puter languagee is vomething ofa sign of generosity foward future readers or users ofthat code, With all computer eode though, there might be an inten ton foward a seoondary sidience of human ceaders, but there is always deference toward the primary lectconic audience. The aither’s generesity of ace thereof, toward human audiences most frequently extends in the other direction — toward the cot [puter tell Does the writer deal elegant with RAM memory use, or allow the program ta leave messy ‘races of itself all over the motherboard? Does the author stick to conventians of interfaces az inter ction that the computer's operating system will “ke"? And so, with line: a text fle, the author of valuable snippet of code epeale directly to function, material acion and agency jin the computer, rout= ing electrons to-and-fro. But here, removed from prying gaze af the nen, compiler and CPU —wet- fen into physical book like te one you now hold Jn yout hands — code enters culture, story and Jmagination, It speaks uncharacterstically, and dic rectly, to people: human readers, and our worlds An spocryphal story most of us have come t0 be- eve seports thatthe inuit have a larger nunber of ‘words for snow” than do Anglo-American English language cultores. A a result, by accounts, these Indigenous peoples’ are able to understand and experience snow in a fantastically expansive Way.However contrived, the story supports our most hr man intuition that languages frame and effect the realities people are able to experience, The languag 2 we use, and how we use them seem tous adirect Fefctin of the richness of our Ives. But language puts us both in relation to, and at distance Irom this Mf, our worlds. We describe, we create and de ‘roy meaning, we sympathise, we embellish and beautify, we love. All the while we strain and bloat ‘our expression in seemingly vain esterpa ta shape, ‘eansmit, and pay witness through words. Always trying to hit upon a perfect formulation, grapplion owaid descriptions of thought aad feeling, as sealing an impossibly high mountain of langusge (even as I ype these words onto keyboard) tn this swing, between the nearly unthinkable limiless- ‘nese of language and our often frustrated express Sons, les @ precarious power — used in pocty to srorprse, delight and challenge. Ir our house of lan- guage is also.a prison, poety is an escape tunnel ‘The code (poems in this book operate inthis same ‘way, but with constraints that are much more strict land (in contemporary computing eulzure) with ca ‘cites to actuate language that are sm many sens- (2 even greater. ‘The ides ofa code fpoem} could be interpreted many sways, Most iterally, we might imagine a computer ‘whiting code for us, using its mastery of rule-based Permutation and iteration to generate selection of ‘Words: infinite prose, or "a nev pocm every time.” History has witnessed a slew of collaborations be tween literature and computing that operate along these lines (rom computer-generated haikus (0 nonlinear hypertext novels). Likewise, code fpoem) ‘ght allude to a pocm in which an encrypted mes- soge is embedded, as in the "poem codes" used 25 leeys to decipher mersager during the Second World ‘War (as a most famous example, Leo Matis? “The Life That 1 Have"). The approach taken in the eol- lected poems included in this book, instead, 1s to present works that extract ‘om the form and subject matter of computer languages themselves, something of thei expressive power, cade (poems) presenta a set of solicited works thst brlantly reveal the inner and outer workings, ere ative potential and individual styles of both par ticular computer program and ite author They are ‘writen by software engineers, artiste an other cod- 5, asked to “explore the povential of code to comm ‘munieate at the level of pocty.” (collected online at code-poems.com) The project allowed for online, public submissions from code-wrters in response fo the notion af a poem, written sn a software lan duage, that is semantically valid (ue i would oF ‘ould compile to be man on a computer). With these ‘minimal rules, the project presents a cross-com- pilation of these poetic attempts themselves, ech fnuthor fee to interpret the ides of what wade (po try) might be. This collestion of solicited works bril- nlly reveals the Inner working, constitutive ele sents, and styles of both a particular stare and ite authors. There are poems hese that speclically address classical themes Uke love and romance. “There are others that reveal a tendency towards the ind of ebsotute and original cantrol [god-eompex?) that Sometimes comes of hours spent building et tire universes inside a machine. Sil here seers to tall back to the code itself, challenging its expres- Sivity and potential as poetry. A select few others Gllow world events and topical themes to emerge In everyday writing and speech, Janguage itself is barely noticeable. What itis you are actually read- jing here and now are simple marke on a pase,isappearing right before your eyes as you read Through ite own supremacy snd ubiquity, language is clisive, dificult to perceive. The words we pass four eves over are hike stealthy lite eryptograms SVhesting secret messoges, talking backs st us in odes. itis here that poetry intervenes. Poetry is Tanguage epealing for sue, and this is no citfer- tne with computer code, Those of us used to read ‘ng throug code snippets and c'flas barely no- tice ste structure, how the syntax operates, o> the Ghientimes complex beauty or simple satofacion tneapsulated by each 9 oF One promise of code poems) is to develop new perspeciives on the com puter languages tney feature, showing us the Iyrical beauty of these structured protocols. A code (poem) produces for us, anew, the materiality of computer Drogramming langsieges, as tstructions to the ma- {ine and right there on the page ‘Wen things get truly comple as they may indeed be getting the distinction beiween Us, oUF tools, ‘and the things that can be made with them begins todistolve; the information-scapes we navigate dai- I-are filed with media that are intertwined with an Abundance of messages and identities. The signified ‘works bacloward to erase the signer; words-them- Sthves vanish the moment tey are pushed from the ‘page or the tongue. Through coe (poems, we are Conpelled toward a reappearance of language that ‘luatinates how meaning is created for us and for four machines, But only we ean tly read theve hur ‘man encodings, these poems in code Jamie AtenABOUT THE PROJECT Poetry is form of literary art in which language is « tised for ite aesthetic and evocative qualities. It al- lows for « multiplicity of interpretations ar there= {ore resonates eiferenty with each reader. Computer code Is a set of languages used to com- imunieate with and between computers. It has it ‘om rules (syntax) and meanings (semantics). Like erature writers or poets, coders also have their con sie that includes strateges for optimizing the Code as read by a computer, and facilitating ts un- derstanding through visual erganization and com- ‘ments for other coders, Code can speak literature, logic, maths It contains diferent layers of abstraction and it inks them to the phylcal world of processors and memory chips. All shese resources can contribute ta expanding the boundaries of contemporary poetry: using code es 1 properly new language. Code can speak about life ful death love and hate. Code that is meant to be ead, not ranJn order to explore the potential of code to comms nicate a the level of poetry, eal for submissions ‘was open between the February 22nd and May 31st (of 2012. The rules for submitting code poems were simple (1) the poem having & maximum sizeof 0,5 KB, and [2)t required to compile A total of 190 poems were submitted from 30 aif ferent counties The cade editor tha otaboried ‘on the project made the selection to be printed in ‘his book, attempting to represent the variety and creativity of the submissions, at well as diferent approaches to cade potty, ‘The poems in this book do not necessarily need to be readin any particular order That said the linear flow ofthe book has boon sorted with a intention to provide a balanced and enjoyable ow tothe reader ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ‘Thanks toll the code poets that contributed to this project ‘Aaron Broder, Alejandro Corredor, Alvaro Matias Wong Diss, Andrew Couch, Andrew Parker, Antonio Moujadami, Atanas Boadarov, atta Palfalus, Ay- seri Mansoux, Bacchus Beale, Ben Englisch, Brad Sorensen, Bram De Buyser, Bruno Herbein, Carrie Padian, Chris Adams, Chris Boucher, Cosima Dipal- ia, Dan Brown, Dane Hillard, Daniel Bezerea, Dave Mekella, Dave ‘Mezee, David Berry, David Canti- Jon, David Devanny, ‘David Homes, David Sjun- ‘nesson, Dean M Kull, Dom Slatiord, Bd Schenk, Elena Macheasovs, Erie Knechtel, Giulio Presazzi, Gorenje Smaci, Guilherme Kerr, rls Dunkle,Iteza Darla, ley Bdwarda, Jake Forsberg, James Grant, Jason Kopylec, Jason Rowland, Jasper Speicher, Sefitey Kright Jennifer Mace, Jerome Saint-Clair, ‘esse Pascoe, Joaquim dSouza, John Dale, John \MeGuiness, John Saylor, Jolene Dunne, Jon Bounds, ‘Jon Coe, Jonny Plackett, Jove Porte, Josh Fong heieer, Joshua Reisenauer, Jot Kali, Ken Hubbell, Kenny Brown, Lans Nelson, Lutalo Joseph, MagdaArques, Mare van der Holst, Marco Triverio, Marcus Ross, Mario Sangiorgio, Mark Whybird, Mary Alex sania Agner, Matias Chomicid, Matt Bainter, Mat thew Painter, Matthew Perna, Matthew Ward, Mic ‘hae! Cheung, Miche! Fall, Mikey Hogurts, Naney Mauro-Flude, Nataliya Petkova, Nemesie Fix, Nich ‘las Starke, Nick Daly, Pall Thayer, Paul Ilingwort, Peter Schonefeld, Pettoula Sepeta, Rafael Romero, Ramsey Nasser, Rena Mostein, Ricardo Sisnciro, Richard Fletcher, Richard Littauer, Roger Donat, Rugeero Castagnola, Ryan Christisnses, Ryan Ka: bir, Shani Naeema, ‘Shavm Lawean, Signe Bream, Soon Van, Suhsil ‘Thakur, Syke Boyd, Terek Est ‘an, Thibault Autheman, Thomas Brat, Thomas Pellegrin, Tobby Cheruthuruthil, Ubaldo Pescators, Nels, Vilson Vieira, Viviana Alvazea Chotén, Wil: lism Dupré, Wiliam Linville, Wolf Herrera, Xtine Burvough, Yann van der Cruysson and Yes Daoist. Thanks to Jamie Allen, Joshua Noble, David Gauth fer and Marcin Ignae for their entovuslas and dedi cation tothe project. And thanks to Elena Gianni, Jon Lynch, Marco Triverio, Hart Hankrishnan and Harsha Vardban for great conversations about code poetry prion wore "The code {poems} in this book are set in inconsolsts., monospace typeface designed by Raph Levien in 2005, mepited by humanist sane fonts. The rest of the tent set in Booleman Old Face, a ser iypeface designed by Alewancer Phemister in 1858. ‘The book is printed by Impremta Badia, founded i 1888 in Barcelona, in blac onto 100gsm Soporset paper.String silence" : Sering Ideso"Thte is'nt opetey.%; String draft; StringCipontenew Stringtisea.LengthOls soig esto ‘rafeides, weiteos Rethink; 2 void drauoe fewrtte; » seid weiteot prinela (arate); 5 ‘oid ReTHinkOE Forint deconps9;deccmosaratt. 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