[Computer code] has its own rules (syntax) and meaning (semantics) … Code can speak literature, logic, maths. It contains different layers of abstraction and it links them to the physical world of processors and memory chips. All these resources can contribute in expanding the boundaries of contemporary poetry by using code as a new language. Code to speak about life or death, love or hate. Code meant to be read, not run. ~ From Code {poems}

1.  Start by working through all (or even just a bit of) “Getting Started with Programming” and/or “HTML Fundamentals” on Codecademy.

2.  Check out this really cool project. Here’s an example of a code poem. And one more. As you work on this exercise, give some thought to how computers and digital technology have altered the evolution of print literature, then experiment more directly with the relationship between writing code and writing literature.

3. Write a poem or microfiction in code using JavaScript and/or HTML. Your code should be both human readable and machine readable. It doesn’t have to accomplish much when compiled (i.e. read by a computer), but it should accomplish something.

4. For reference, here is a page with sample JavaScript, showing some code and what results from that code: http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_examples.asp. Here is a page with sample HTML, showing some code and what results from that code: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_examples.asp.

5. Test your code. If you’re coding in JavaScript, you can test your code here: http://writecodeonline.com/javascript/. If you’re coding in HTML, you can test your code here: http://www.jmarshall.com/easy/html/testbed.html.

6.  Publish the code for your work somewhere on the web and share a link to it on the #digiwrimo hashtag. We recommend publishing the code itself (and not what it does) in order to have people thinking about the nature of code itself as art.”

Reference:

Digital Writing Month. (2012). Retrieved November 23, 2012 from http://www.digitalwritingmonth.com/2012/11/23/codepoem/#more-1099

Please also click HERE for Kevin Hodgson’s Code-Poem Experiment