@ -6,25 +6,33 @@ Coding Contingencies (CC) is a procedural take on how different characters got t
How did they choose a particular programming language, a coding paradigm, a development environment, an infrastructure where to run the code, and so on?
These are not just technical choices, but rather coding contingencies.
Personal decisions, trending technologies, curiosity and boredom, to name a few. A lecture on Code Golf, a collegue passionate about live coding, a crypto-boyfriend, the tech stack of an employer, a drasatic turn of events, etc. etc.
Personal decisions, trending technologies, curiosity and boredom, to name a few. A talk on Code Golf as form of frugality, a collegue passionate about live coding that drags you to an algorave night, a crypto-boyfriend, the tech stack of a company, a drastic turn of events, etc. etc.
These contingencies are situated in precise contexts.
Programming then is not just sharing code, but sharing context.
It's providing a point of view and a perspective to look at the world, before attempting to get some grip onto it with a script.
Using the simulation as a writing machine we can articulate these CC with some benefits:
1. Suspension of judgment
Within the scope of the simulation it's not necessary to label good or bad choices.
(That would be the case for a machine learning writing device, for example)
One character could decide one morning to write their own operative system from scratch using Red Stone circuits in Minecraft, and it would be fine.
Due to the nature of the process, even the most absurd starting point it's a valid and powerful narrative device.
In this way it becomes easier to explore marginal cases, improbabilities, and non-conform situations.
In this way it becomes easier to explore marginal cases, improbabilities, and non-conform situations.
2. A series of steps
A simulation does not happen all at once, instead is a process that evolves through time.
Elements entangle gradually, and do not come as a monolithic block.
Instead they can be imagined as lines merging
A simulation does not happen all at once, instead it is a process that evolves through time.
Partecipants entangle gradually, and do not come as a monolithic block.
They can be imagined as lines: merging together and branching away, tying and loosening knots. (Ingold)
From this aspect two other important features emerges:
- Partiality, with multi-facets characters where not all the elements interacts with each other at the same time. (Haraway)
- Orientation, that is a subtle sense of direction through (simulated) chaos.
