I recently asked the question, “Why do you write your own software rather than only use existing software tools?” on Twitter. These answers came back:

@sansumbrella (David Wicks)
writing is the most direct interface for describing systems and interactions.

@peregrintook
code is a medium; many tools constrain you to narrow subgenres. Knowing the fabric and pigments of the medium permits exploring more.

@voxels (Michael Edgcumbe)
so I can understand why the choices underlying the design seem like the most elegant solution

@barrythrew (Barry Threw)
Because the tools don’t exist to accomplish what I want to do. There is nothing more I would like than not to have to write software.

@robmyers (Rob Myers)
to learn, to gain understanding, to not be limited by affordances, and to be able to share all of this

@simonski (Simon Gauld)
why? because programming is a creative expression itself

@vormplus (Jan Vantomme)
because it’s easier to iterate through ideas and compositions. “Industry standard” tools don’t allow me to do this.

@brainSteen (Christopher Warnow)
When code goes through my hands, it has my gesture in it. Else it would be like painting with another cold dead hand holding a brush.

@eskimobloood (Andreas Köberle)
With other peoples software I can replicate other peoples dreams, with my own software I can dream my own.

@manovich (Lev Manovich)
Because writing software is a form of thinking and making theory; its a big part of cultural analytics strategy

@AlexKarasev (Alex Karasev)
Somebody has to write those tools! Not me; I just write “glue pieces” filling the functionality gaps. Some folks write to stay current

@miskaknapek (Miska Knapek)
1. it’s much more fun 2. existing software doesn’t conform to my way of working/desires 3. i want to be free :)

@admsyn (Adam Carlucci)
I use existing tools to make things that don’t exist yet (or I hope they don’t, anyway)

@madronalabs
Why do you write rather than just reading words other people have written?

@lankybutmacho
That’s the beauty of Processing for me: coding as exploration/research. Also, then the product can be concise & elegant without bloat.

@lennyjpg (Leander Herzog)
adobe is a cheeseburger, processing is like crack. it should have a warning on it. i gave it my hand and it ate my arm.

I love books and bookshops, so it’s natural that I also love to buy books, make books, and sell books. In looking for nice bookshops to contact about carrying Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture, we asked friends on Twitter to make recommendations. This list is the result of the suggestions. If you have other ideas or corrections, please send them our way through @REAS.

Netherlands
Selexyz
Nijhof & Lee, Amsterdam
Athenaeum Boekhandel, Amsterdam
American Book Center, Hague / Amsterdam
National Architecture Institute [NAi], Rotterdam

Spain
Ras Gallery, Barcelona
La Central, Barcelona
Laie, Barcelona

UK
Riba
Waterstones
Magma, London
ICA Bookshop, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Artwords, London
Design Museum, London

Ireland
Science Gallery, Dublin

Australia
The MCA Store, Sydney
Ariel Bookstore, Sydney
Published Art, Sydney
Berkelouw Books, Sydney
Gleebooks, Sydney
Readings, Melbourne

US
St. Mark’s Bookshop, New York
Spoonbill & Sugartown, Brooklyn
Hennessey & Ingalls, Santa Monica
Arcana, Santa Monica
MoCA Store, Los Angeles
LACMA Shop, Los Angeles
Hammer Museum bookstore, Los Angeles
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
William Stout Architectural Books, San Francisco

France
Artazart, Paris
Le LaboShop, Paris

Switzerland
Archigraphy, Geneva
Ellipse, Geneva

Germany
Pro qm, Berlin

Belgium
COPYRIGHT, Gent and Antwerp

Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture is now officially published:

Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture
Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams, LUST
Princeton Architectural Press
ISBN 9781568989372
7 x 8.5 inches (17.8 x 21.6 cm)
Paperback, 176 pages

Chandler and I started the project at the beginning of the summer 2007 with a workshop titled “Form + Code” at the Telic Arts Exchange in Los Angeles (19 July 2007 from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm). The Dutch design studio LUST was folded in to the team in November of the same year. We developed the book with Chandler and myself primarily curating the images and developing the text and LUST leading the visual communication and layout exploration. The project was taken to some extreme variations as we explored the material. The primary consideration that we wanted the book to be as affordable and widely available as possible drove many of the decisions including the format (a small paperback) and the publisher (Princeton Architectural Press).

The book grew out of two overlapping desires. First, Chandler and I spend much of our lives working with UCLA undergraduates in the Department of Design Media Arts and we’re continuously developing lectures and examples for them. Form+Code was developed to give them a broad understanding of how code is used within the visual arts. Second, after completing Processing: a Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, I had the desire to make a book about the same topic, but from a totally different perspective. That book taught the reader how to program, but it didn’t discuss why it’s an interesting thing for a designer or artist to consider. Form+Code is a non-technical introduction, while Processing: A Programming Handbook is a rigorous technical foundation.

Here’s some text from the formal book proposal to Princeton Architectural Press completed in August 2008:

Form+Code discusses the role of software in visual design, art, and architecture. It hopes to generate interest in creating visual and spatial form with software across diverse fields by focusing on the history, theory, and practice of software in the arts. The book is about one quarter text and three quarters images. It is organized around two parallel narratives: one told through images and captions, and the other through essays with related diagrams and images. This allows the book to be read cover-to-cover or leisurely looked through as a source of inspiration.

The book is divided into seven chapters: What is Code?, Computers and Form, Repetition, Transformation, Parameters, Visualization, and Simulation. The first two chapters set the foundation for the rest of the book by discussing the history of the computer in the arts and how software is used to create form. The five themes of repetition, transformation, parameters, visualization, and simulation are deeply linked to code. Each of these sections begin with an essay to define the territory, continues with images and captions, and concludes with code examples written in a few designer-friendly programming language such as Processing and ActionScript (the code won’t be included in the book, but will be available from the URL www.formandcode.com). Form+Code is not a programming tutorial; its goal is to inspire though the discussion of themes and projects.

…

Unlike many other books, the visual design of Form+Code is a close collaboration between the primary text authors (Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams) and the primary visual authors (LUST). The visual layout will be almost conventional, but will include details that illustrate the marriage of code and form. These details will further convey the primary content of the book.

We are patterning the structure of Form+Code closely on Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type. We feel this book is a superb synthesis of text and image; it’s the right amount of content to provide a solid introduction to its subject, while brief enough to make it manageable and affordable. We strive to reach this balance and to appeal to a similar audience of students, educators, and professionals. We’re also highly influenced by Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Artists and Designers, written by Casey Reas and Ben Fry. In a way, Form+Code, is a prequel to this book. The Processing book is a 736 page textbook primarily printed in black and white, but its subject matter is highly visual. Form+Code presents much of the background research for the Processing book in a full-color and image-heavy presentation.

There could be many books written in relation to the topics of form and code. The Form+Code book is written for students, educators, and professionals in the fields of design, art, and architecture. It’s intended to provide a foundation for and/or augment academic courses related to “digital design”, “interactive media”, “computational design”, “media art”, “introduction to computer graphics” “introduction to programming“, and other related areas. The book is also meant to be appealing and appropriate for people outside of academic institutions, but involved in the above mentioned fields. It is equally appropriate for non-specialists who are interested in these areas. The book is very visual, but the text is rigorously researched and provides clear context for the images. It is not a reference book or a technical manual; it is an introduction to a deep topic and therefore will be engaging to read. All content is framed within the context of the arts. The book is intended as a foundation text and there are no prerequisites.

To learn more about the book, please visit the website http://formandcode.com.

Chandler and I are happy to announce a book launch party for Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture at Telic Arts Exchange in Los Angeles on Saturday, 4 September from 5 – 7pm. Please join us. We’ll have a toast at 6:30 to thank the many book contributors who’ll be there. Champagne and snacks will be served and we’ll have copies of the book on hand. Directions to Telic (951 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA 90012) are available on their website.

After spending about quadruple the time we allotted for it, the formandcode.com website for our forthcoming book Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture is online. The site includes photos of the book and the code for each chapter’s examples (the code isn’t printed in the book), as well as the Contents, Bibliography, Links to people featured in the book, and more. Here’s the official description for the book:

Once the exclusive domain of programmers, code is now being used by a new generation of designers, artists, and architects eager to explore how software can enable innovative ways of generating form and translating ideas. Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture offers an in-depth look at the use of software in a wide range of creative disciplines. This visually stimulating survey introduces readers to over 250 significant works and undertakings of the past 60 years in the fields of fine and applied art, architecture, industrial design, digital fabrication, visual cinema, photography, typography, interactive media, gaming, artificial intelligence (AI), artificial life (a-life), and graphic design, including data mapping and visualizations, and all forms of new media and expression.

The book will be available on 1 September 2010 and is currently available for pre-order at Amazon, etc.