Code and Language

---

Readings and computational materials are organized by theme, though many different combinations beyond those suggested here are possible.

Themes

• Code as Language

  Language seems to be one means to encode thought; the same can be said for computer programs. However, explaining language and its relation to codes and coding remains elusive. Can we view coding as translation from thought to language? Must you understand to translate?

  Coding, Ciphers, Turing and Translation

  "Code (or, How You Can Write Something Differently)". Kittler. pp. 40--47. Software Studies: A Lexicon. Edited by Fuller. MIT Press. 2008.

  Language and code as tools for thought, exploration, and experimentation.

  Computer Power and Human Reason. Weizenbaum. pp. 107 -- 110. W.H. Freeman and Company. 1976.

  Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis; "The Medium is the Message"

  "Languaging". Teaching as Subversive Activity. Postman and Weingartner. pp. 98--108. Dell Publishing. 1971.

  Can you translate "slithy toves" to French?

  Goedel, Escher, Bach. Hofstadter. pp. 372 -- 383. Basic Books. 1979

• Code Acts

  Both language and code react to and act on their context. However, do they have the same status as tools of thought?

  Source Code, Libraries and Free Software

  "Source Code". Krysa and Sedek. pp. 236--242. Software Studies: A Lexicon. Edited by Fuller. MIT Press. 2008.

  Sentences, whether in code or language, often have truth values. However, language and code are more often used to do something --- to act.

  How to Do Things with Words. Austin. Harvard University Press. 1962.

  Interactivity, intelligence, language, and the limits of science.

  Computer Power and Human Reason. Weizenbaum. pp. 1 -- 16. W.H. Freeman and Company. 1976.

  ELIZA from workshop-1

  A recent chatbot learned to behave badly.

  Microsoft Tay

  Encoding Bias with Code

  "Machine Bias: There's software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it's biased against blacks." Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner. ProPublica. May 23, 2016.

• Code and Creativity

  How do codes help us create? How is language generated by machine different from the creative process? Can it generate new ideas in the reader?

  Creative copying in the digital age?

  "Copy". Parikka. pp. 70--76. Software Studies: A Lexicon. Edited by Fuller. MIT Press. 2008.

  Algorithms generate poetry and prose via algorithms and input data.

  "What Is E-Poetry?". Flores.

  Quote Generator and ELIZA from workshop-1

  Book of Changes (I Ching)

  Strachey Love letters

  Monfort's Taroku Gorge

  Markov generator based on input text (Composition as Explanation, Gertrude Stein)

  Programming as a Creative Act

  "Computer Programming as an Art". Knuth. 1974 ACM Turing Award Lecture.

  Machine Creativity

  "Logical Induction, Machine Learning, and Human Creativity". Ganascia. Switching Codes. Edited by Bartscherer and Coover. pp. 140-151