Regularity
From Maze
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| − | 10 PRINT, this single line of BASIC, seems so simple. Just one line of instruction, repeating again and again -- building, as it repeats, what seems to be an unending maze. Yet the program could function without an exacting degree of regularity. The program repeats elements on the spatial order of the screen grid; it keeps a steady pace of repeated output; and it is written as an infinite loop, executing repeatedly without limit. More simply, 10 PRINT depends on regularity of space, time, and process. | + | 10 PRINT, this single line of BASIC, seems so simple. Just one line of instruction, repeating again and again -- building, as it repeats, what seems to be an unending maze. Yet it is the tip of the ice berg, the elegant sign of a highly constrained set of conditions. Specifically, the program could function without an exacting degree of regularity. The program repeats elements on the spatial order of the screen grid; it keeps a steady pace of repeated output; and it is written as an infinite loop, executing repeatedly without limit. More simply, 10 PRINT depends on regularity of space, time, and process. |
The ways in which 10 PRINT repeats are connected to two major types of artistic tradition and to the flow of control in computer programs. The first tradition of art is seem in the world of craft, particularly pattern-based crafts such as needlework and ornamental design. The second is a movement within the fine arts in the twentieth century to create complex patterns out of repeated procedures upon very basic units. In this way, the aesthetic of 10 PRINT parallels experiments in painting, sculpture, sound composition, video art, performance, experimental animation, and dance, much of which was seen in the decade immediately prior to 10 PRNT. In both cases, the success of these art forms is due to factors that make 10 PRINT compelling: a continual repetition of a simple rhythmic procedure or rule across a regular space or time signature creating a complex and stimulating gestalt. The other perspective on regularity that 10 PRINT employs is the perspective from computer programming, which allows a formal definition of a repeating process that a computer can carry out. | The ways in which 10 PRINT repeats are connected to two major types of artistic tradition and to the flow of control in computer programs. The first tradition of art is seem in the world of craft, particularly pattern-based crafts such as needlework and ornamental design. The second is a movement within the fine arts in the twentieth century to create complex patterns out of repeated procedures upon very basic units. In this way, the aesthetic of 10 PRINT parallels experiments in painting, sculpture, sound composition, video art, performance, experimental animation, and dance, much of which was seen in the decade immediately prior to 10 PRNT. In both cases, the success of these art forms is due to factors that make 10 PRINT compelling: a continual repetition of a simple rhythmic procedure or rule across a regular space or time signature creating a complex and stimulating gestalt. The other perspective on regularity that 10 PRINT employs is the perspective from computer programming, which allows a formal definition of a repeating process that a computer can carry out. | ||
