10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

  • Nick Montfort | MIT

A single line of code–the extremely concise BASIC program for the Commodore 64 inscribed in the title—is used as a lens through which to consider the phenomenon of creative computing and the way computer programs exist in culture. Nick Montfort, in collaboration with nine other authors, treat code not as merely functional but as a text–in the case of 10 PRINT, a text that appeared in many different printed sources–that yields a story about its making, its purpose, its assumptions, and more. They consider randomness and regularity in computing and art, the maze in culture, the popular BASIC programming language, and the highly influential Commodore 64 computer.

Speaker Details

Nick Montfort writes computational and constrained poetry, develops computer games, and is a critic, theorist, and scholar of computational art and media. He is associate professor of digital media in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is now serving as president of the Electronic Literature Organization. He earned a Ph.D. in computer and information science from the University of Pennsylvania. For speakers upcoming this season please see: http://sharepoint/sites/visitingspeaker/default.aspx

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