i was invited by seekh, a student-run organisation at mit-institute-of-design, to introduce creative-coding to 180+ undergraduate students. together, we learnt how to think like a computer (programmatic-thinking), talk to a computer (introduction to p5.js syntax), and make with a computer (p5.js drawing exercises).
i introduced students to the idea of ‘instructional-art’, with examples from sol-lewitt and yoko-ono. we explored what good instructions (rules) are, by creating a live input / output system in class — students wrote a set of instructions, dropped it in a box, and picked up a set of someone else’s instructions to follow (and make a drawing).
we chuckled at the fact that computers are dumb — often requiring a set of very specific, sometimes laborious, instructions to perform simple tasks.
Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.
words by tom asacker.
we explored language, and understood why it’s important to talk to a computer in a language it understands. from there, we moved on to high-level programming languages, and i introduced basic drawing syntax via simple exercises.
slowly, i introduced more computational concepts such as variables, loops, pseudo-randomness and interactivity (via mouse-clicks, keyboard, et-cetera), while working with them to realise individual final compositions. we then ended the workshop with a display of these compositions.