Speaker
Description
Exploratory programming involves writing computer programs as a method of inquiry or to enable creative computing. A typical software developer is working toward a known objective to implement a pre-existing design. An exploratory programmer, by contrast, may proceed in a bottom-up, open-ended fashion and discover new aspects of different domains, including those in the arts and humanities. The exploratory programmer uses some of the same methods of a data scientist, but may be also be exploring computation itself and its relationship to platforms and digital media history. Although this approach can be used by advanced programmers, it is also an excellent way to introduce learners to the capabilities of computing, as I present in a book that is now available in print and in three open-access digital formats. Those who learn to program in an exploratory mode can go on to not just design and manage computing projects, but to participate as programmers.
Kery, Mary Beth, and Brad A. Myers. "Exploring Exploratory Programming." 2017 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), pp. 25-29, IEEE, 2017.
Marino, Mark C. Critical Code Studies. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2020.
Montfort, Nick. Exploratory Programming for the Arts and Humanities, 2nd Ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2021.
Montfort, Nick, Patsy Baudoin, John Bell, Ian Bogost, Jeremy Douglass, Mark C. Marino, Michael Mateas Casey Reas, Mark Sample, and Noah Vawter. 10 PRINT CHR $(205.5+ RND (1));: GOTO 10. MIT Press, 2014.
