hi robert
since you are a student of math and also of poetry, let me recommend a
course which may be taught at your school in the computer science
department. in canada, it is typically taken by computer science majors in
their third year. when i took it, the course was called 'language and the
theory of computation' (there is a book by the same name). sometimes the
course is just called 'automata theory' or something like that. computer
science students typically hate it because it's a math course that proceeds
via definition, lemma, theorem, corollary. but a student of math and poetry
would love it. it threads language and mathematics together. also, if one
takes the computer seriously as art media, this course is useful in what it
teaches about the nature of computers. some think they are fancy
typewriters. or fancy mixing boards or whatever. this course looks at the
theoretical limits in a rigorous way, dispels such illusions. indeed, the
material is perhaps more important to artists who use computers than it is
to a typical programmer. as such, it is a secret, intense course in the
poetics of computer-based art.
ja
http://vispo.com
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