Artspeak is a computer language conceived by
Jacob T. Schwartz
__NOTOC__
Jacob Theodore "Jack" Schwartz (January 9, 1930 – March 2, 2009) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and professor of computer science at the New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He was the ...
at
New York University's
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Until 2011, the only known compiler/interpreter was written for the
CDC 6600, a mainframe computer. In order to program in Artspeak on the CDC 6600, one had to use punch cards and utilize
batch processing.
Artspeak was a specialized language that worked with a single-color graphical
plotter
A plotter is a machine that produces vector graphics drawings. Plotters draw lines on paper using a pen, or in some applications, use a knife to cut a material like vinyl or leather. In the latter case, they are sometimes known as a cutting pl ...
to produce graphical output on a 10-inch by 10-inch sheet of paper. It used simple, English language-based statements to draw elemental shapes, including
circles,
point
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
s,
text, and many types of
curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...
s (including
lines
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Arts ...
).
In 2011, Ron Schnell (author of
Dunnet
Dunnet is a village in Caithness, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. It is within the Parish of Dunnet.
Village
The village centres on the A836 road, A836–B855 road junction. The A836 leads towards John o' Groats ...
) found an old draft manual for the language, and after discovering that the language ceased to exist, wrote it from scratch in
Python.
New Artspeak Reference Guide
/ref>
The new version of Artspeak outputs to a computer monitor
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The di ...
, as opposed to a plotter, and allows local and server storage of Artspeak programs. There are other differences from the original Artspeak, all of which are detailed in the reference guide.
General references
Ron Schnell's 2011 implementation of an Artspeak Interpreter
* Henry Mullish
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal ...
(1974): The art of programming ARTSPEAK: A computer graphics language
References
{{reflist
Educational programming languages
High-level programming languages