CAAD Practice: A Brief Introduction to Coding (L. Hovestadt)

Abstract

Computers are not machines, rather instruments to think the world with. Coding is not about submitting yourself to computer scientists' formalities and worldviews, but about the emancipation of writing itself in the digital age.

Objective

This course aims to expose you to writing code (you will be writing a lot). Teaching will not be rigidly structured since we do not seek to solve any particular problem using code, nor offer certification. We want to learn to talk in a new way. We will let grammar fit into its place naturally, and let the ideas about what we can do with code cook slowly.

Content

Computers are not machines, rather instruments to think the world with. Coding is not about submitting yourself to computer scientists' formalities and worldviews, but about the emancipation of writing itself in the digital age. Even if you never end up using computer code in your architectural endeavours (highly unlikely), knowing what code does and how to write it will make you a literate person in a sense you cannot currently imagine. New perspectives will open to you in the world that is already there. This course aims to expose you to writing code (you will be writing a lot). Teaching will not be rigidly structured since we do not seek to solve any particular problem using code, nor offer certification. We want to learn to talk in a new way. We will let grammar fit into its place naturally, and let the ideas about what we can do with code cook slowly. We will be coding in Python programming language. Python is a very popular language that is easy to start with, but hard to master (just like English). But we are not here for the Python or any other language. We are interested in the talks that it allows us to articulate.

Resources