Codework is "a type of creative writing which in some way references or incorporates formal computer languages (

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offici ...

, etc.) within the text. The text itself is not necessarily code that will compile or run, though some have added that requirement as a form of constraint." The concept of and term 'codework' was originally developed by Alan Sondheim, but is also practiced by and used to refer to the work of other Internet artists such as

Mez Breeze Mez Breeze is an Australian-based artist and practitioner of net.art, working primarily with code poetry, electronic literature, mezangelle, and digital games. Born Mary-Anne Breeze, she uses a number of avatar nicknames, including Mez and Netw ...

, Talan Memmott (especially in the work '' Lexia to Perplexia''), Ted Warnell, Brian Lennon, and

John Cayley John Howland Cayley (born 1956) is a Canadian pioneer of writing in digital media as well as a theorist of the practice, a poet, and a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University (from 2007). Education After moving to the United Kingdom in ...

. Scholar Rita Raley uses the term " et.writing" which she defines as "the use of the contemporary idiolect of the computer and computing processes in digital media experimental writing." Raley sees codework as part of a broader practice exploring "the art of code." Codework has been used for many forms of writing, mostly

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

. Duc Thuan's
''Days of JavaMoon''
is an example of fiction in the codework style (in this case, using

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...

syntax).{{cite web , title=Days of JavaMoon entry , url=https://directory.eliterature.org/individual-work/617 , website=Electronic Literature Directory , accessdate=29 October 2020 , date=8 December 2010 For example:

   // Feeling.
   if (ashamed++ 
 losing self-esteem.S_____ wasn't on diet)  eolution =
   would stop eating lunch next time;

   // Result.
   after all = S_____ couldn't resist to eat when see niffng food
   ("ate();", felt defeated & self-disgusted x 1000);
}

A variety of examples of codework can be found in the Electronic Literature Collections published by the

Electronic Literature Organization The Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) is a nonprofit organization "established in 1999 to promote and facilitate the writing, publishing, and reading of electronic literature". It hosts annual conferences, awards annual prizes for works of ...

, such as Alan Sondheim's online performance ''Internet Text'' (1994-), Giselle Beiguelman's ''Code Movie 1'' (2004), Dan Shiovitz's

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

''Bad Machine'' (1999) (Volume 1),

's "netwurk repository" of "_mezangelles_," ''_cross.ova.ing ] rm.blog.2.log_'' (2003-), Bjørn Magnhildøen's live writing performance/text movie, ''PlainTextPerformance'' (2010), Ted Warnell's ''new media network'' (1994-), and

Nick Montfort Nick Montfort is a poet and professor of digital media at MIT, where he directs a lab called The Trope Tank. He also holds a part-time position at the University of Bergen where he leads a node on computational narrative systems at the Center for ...

poetry generator ''ppg256-1'' (2008) (Volume 2).

References

External links

Electronic Literature Collection
Writing systems Electronic literature Internet art