noemata · codework

— source as poem · poem as source · neither compiles —

 01 #!/usr/bin/env nothing
 02 # filename: noemata.py — does not run, does not need to
 03 # first written 1991, last edited continuously
 04
 05 from silence import *
 06 from memory import forget, remember_wrong
 07 from __future__ import past
 08
 09 def read(page):
 10     # to read a page is to be read by it
 11     while page:
 12         page = read(page)            # recursion without base case
 13     return reader                  # the reader is what is returned
 14
 15 def walk(labyrinth):
 16     # a labyrinth knows where you are at all times
 17     # this is how it stays a labyrinth
 18     for door in labyrinth:
 19         yield walk(door)             # every door opens to the function
 20
 21 class Noemata:
 22     """the thing thought, considered apart from the thinker.
 23     in greek, noēma — the perceived. in pluralis, the perceiveds.
 24     here, a directory listing taken seriously."""
 25
 26     def __init__(self):
 27         self.files = []           # to be filled by anyone
 28         self.duration = "35+ years"
 29         self.listed = True
 30         self.explained = False
 31
 32     def __repr__(self):
 33         return "<directory at /noemata/>"
 34
 35 if __name__ == "__noone__":
 36     n = Noemata()
 37     try:
 38         walk(n)
 39     except KeyboardInterrupt:
 40         # the only way out
 41         pass
 42     finally:
 43         print(".")               # one period.

codework is a practice: writing that looks like code without intending to run. a poem in the shape of a function. a function whose only effect is to be read. it pays attention to the parts of source that programmers ignore — the comments, the variable names, the dead branches. see also ascii, glitch, the library.

 01 % filename: noemata.sh — a shell that will not exit
 02 while true; do
 03     listen --for "a message that does not come"
 04     echo   "."                            # a period
 05     sleep  $LEAP_SECOND                  # defined in leapsecond
 06 done