Poetry makes nothing happen.“In Memory of W. B. Yeats”, W. H. Auden, 1940
Introducing Coem, a poetic programming language.
Tokens / Metaphors
Play with re-interpreting and blurring words and symbols, in consideration of their uses in both programming and literary contexts.
to sl?eep—when—:
“dreams”.
sleep—“now”—
sleep—“never”—
seep—“continually”—Regular expressions / Ambiguities
Express multiplicity and place ideas into juxtaposition. Use regular expressions (a sequence of characters specifying a search pattern) in identifiers and values.
let me be true
let se(e|a) be “blue”
let mis(t|sed) be “thick”
let mou?rning be “dark”Identifiers as strings / Code as text
Let the compiler trust your own private interpretations of variable names. Identifiers that aren’t explicitly defined are interpreted simply as strings.
let me be alive
know—me— † aliveDirectives / Customisability
Teach the compiler how to interpret and interact with you. Directives allow you to use different features and play with different ideas.
#using palimpsest
#using daisychain
#be gentleOne-panel editor / Source code as primary text
Write intimately and collaboratively with the compiler in one text area.
† based on Emmy Meli's “I Am Woman”
#as palimpsest
let I|me|myself be “woman”
let me be “fearless”
let me be “sexy”
let me be “divine”
know—myself— † woman fearless sexy divineSyntax highlighting / Code as display object
Treat your code as a display object to be viewed and appreciated. See your words become typographically transformed through parsing.
to breathing——:
† in and out, and thus to
know—“myself”—
& nothing.