Code as Language Prof Alvarado MDST 3705 22 January 2013
Nov 21, 2014
Code as Language
Prof Alvarado
MDST 3705
22 January 2013
Business
• Synthetic posts by Friday, Response posts by Monday at 9.
• Is logging on from off grounds an issue?• WordPress tricks
– How to make links– Edit Mode– Adding Media– Adding Code
Review
• Knowledge and Media– Knowledge is embedded in a social process
mediated by literacy and other forms of media– This social process takes place within a
network of people and artifacts– As this network changes, so does what
counts as knowledge
• Hello World!– Your entrance into the knowledge network
called the Web …
If PHP is a language, then who is the speaker and who is the
listener?
From Ferdinand Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics (1916)
The computers are here!
Mediated communication
When we write code, we are speaking to the computer, who then speaks to us
We are also writing to others who will read the code (including ourselves)
This is what writing is too …
The difference is that a computer is a machine – it harnesses and transfers
energy
com⋅put⋅er /kəm-pyutər/ [kuhm-pyoo-ter]–noun1. Also called processor. An electronic
device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations. Compare analog computer, digital computer.
2. A person who computes; computist.Origin:1640–50; compute + -er 1 ; cf. MF computeur
Computer languages encode a kind of labor
Programming is about creating and controlling this new kind of labor
It is writing in the imperative mode
To perform work, a computer must have a representation of the world
But a programmer must first represent that world for the computer
What does Kirschenbaum
mean by “world”?
Texts “contain” worlds
That is, part of the shared code between writer and intended
reader is a world
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
The cultural logic of worlds is expressed in novels in the form of plots, characters,
and an other symbolic devices
What about code?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)) : GOTO 10
What world does this line of code express?
It also creates a world …
Other Examples
• Conway’s Game of Life• Barricelli’s Universe
Code is language in the sense language both represent and create
worlds
PHP as a language
Variables
• Variables are like nouns• Locations in memory (pigeon holes)
Values
• Values are like meanings• Strings and numbers
Expressions
• Expressions, e.g. $x + 1, are like clauses• Expressions always “return” a value
Sentences
• Code is written in sentences – Imperative and inquisitive modes
• Imperative– $x = $y; // Like saying, “Let $x = $y”– $x = 1 * 50 + $z;
• Inquisitive– If ($x == 1) {} // Like asking, “Is $x equal to 1?”
Sigils
• E.g. $ as a prefix to variables• In CS and Magic• Mnemonic devices• Hungarian notation• Use in other languages• Philosophical differences
Plato’s Cave
The Role of Programming
Programming
Programs and Files
Operating System
Hardware (storage, input, output)
Users interact via input and output devices