Essays in Programs as Literature

Literature and computer science are two areas that few see as related. Literature is seen as creative, emotional, exotic, whereas programming is seen as droll, rational, logical. But for programmers who enjoy programming, writing new code is just as creative as writing a novel. Programs also have their own language, although it's C or Python instead of English or Spanish.

Literary theory and criticism was developed because people realized the power that literature has. Critics develop theories about what gives literature that power, but they also try to apply what they learn from the analysis of literature to other fields; gender studies and media studies are two examples. When students study literature, they study the primary texts, but also the critics who have commented on those texts.

Computer science, by contrast, is more like a creative writing department. Students are taught how to write programs of various kinds, and some of the theory about computation. However, there is rarely if ever philosophy, criticism, or theory about programming. For my Division III, I would like to make an initial attempt at rectifying this lack.

In short, my Division III will be an attempt to answer the question: what would it mean to treat computer software as a 'literature?' It fits into both the fields of computer science and literature, and stems out of work I've done for HACU 317 "Reading Literary Theory," ENG 207 "Technology of Reading and Writing" (at Smith), and COMPSC 28 "Theory of Computation" (at Amherst).

For this attempt, I will be writing a series of essays on different aspects of this question. By taking a multifaceted approach, I hope to investigate more of my field than would be possible if I focused on a single topic. The essay is an ideal form for this kind of investigation, as a literary form which works through a question, rather than reporting already existing results.

Available online at http://alum.hampshire.edu/~pks03/Division3.pdf

I'm also making it available here on the Wiki, under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Hack as Form
White Boys' Code
Author()
How do Programs Mean?
A Tower of Languages
Poetics of Programming
Epilogue