10 Print Chr$205.5+rnd1: Goto 10 (Software Studies) - Hardcover

Montfort, Nick; Baudoin, Patsy; Bell, John; Bogost, Ian; Douglass, Jeremy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262018462 ISBN 13: 9780262018463

Publisher: Mit Pr, 2012

Synopsis

This book takes a single line of code--the extremely concise BASIC program for the Commodore 64 inscribed in the title--and uses it as a lens through which to consider the phenomenon of creative computing and the way computer programs exist in culture. The authors of this collaboratively written book treat code not as merely functional but as a text--in the case of 10 PRINT, a text that appeared in many different printed sources--that yields a story about its making, its purpose, its assumptions, and more. They consider randomness and regularity in computing and art, the maze in culture, the popular BASIC programming language, and the highly influential Commodore 64 computer.

About this title

About the Author:

Nick Montfort is Professor of Digital Media at MIT. He is the author of Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction and Exploratory Programming for the Arts and Humanities; the coauthor of Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System and 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10; and the coeditor of The New Media Reader (all published by the MIT Press).

Review:

"10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10, a new book collaboratively written by 10 authors, takes a single line of code -- inscribed in the book's mouthful of a title -- and explodes it. That one line, a seemingly clumsy scrap of BASIC, generates a fascinatingly complicated maze on a Commodore 64.... Though 10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10 is occasionally whiplash-inducing in its headlong rush through history, the connections it makes over 294 pages are inspired. One of the most compelling sections of the book discusses the cultural history of mazes, relating 10 PRINT's maze back to the labyrinth of Knossos, where, according to the great Greek myth, Theseus waged battle with the terrifying Minotaur."--Geeta Dayal, "Slate"

10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10, a new book collaboratively written by 10 authors, takes a single line of code -- inscribed in the book's mouthful of a title -- and explodes it. That one line, a seemingly clumsy scrap of BASIC, generates a fascinatingly complicated maze on a Commodore 64.... Though 10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10 is occasionally whiplash-inducing in its headlong rush through history, the connections it makes over 294 pages are inspired. One of the most compelling sections of the book discusses the cultural history of mazes, relating 10 PRINT's maze back to the labyrinth of Knossos, where, according to the great Greek myth, Theseus waged battle with the terrifying Minotaur.--Geeta Dayal, "Slate"

"10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10," a new book collaboratively written by 10 authors, takes a single line of code -- inscribed in the book's mouthful of a title -- and explodes it. That one line, a seemingly clumsy scrap of BASIC, generates a fascinatingly complicated maze on a Commodore 64.... Though "10 PRINT CHR$ (205.5 + RND (1)); GOTO 10" is occasionally whiplash-inducing in its headlong rush through history, the connections it makes over 294 pages are inspired. One of the most compelling sections of the book discusses the cultural history of mazes, relating 10 PRINT's maze back to the labyrinth of Knossos, where, according to the great Greek myth, Theseus waged battle with the terrifying Minotaur.--Geeta Dayal, "Slate"

About this edition

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262018462
• ISBN 13: 9780262018463
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 309