This class has been organised as workshops and modules in ESA La Cambre CASO Arts Numériques Brussels (2019-now), ESADSE St-Etienne (FR, 2018), Synesthésie Paris (FR, 2017), KASK Gent (2015).
Read the article by Valérie Cordy about teaching code in ESA La Cambre CASO Arts Numériques, published in l’Observatoire – No 58, été 2021 : https://cloud.constantvzw.org/s/eofQ2zry9Z865j4
In this course, the learning of code is approached through games and different rules, starting from an intuition about the existence of privileged relationships between code and the constraints of the Oulipo.
The first course is based on a conceptual exercise without a machine. It involves scrupulously applying a ‘recipe’ to a text chosen by the students. The result is a second text that the students must then compare with the initial text, while explaining their recipe. This precision exercise immediately shows who has understood the concept of algorithm and who has not. This approach is known as ‘applied Oulipo’.
The students then move on to the computer, the terminal, the first Python script and the basics of each programming language. They are then invited to create an automatic text generator. The results of this exercise are compiled in a collective publication.