System Failure

So all the pieces were ready to go. The columns had been glued, the final structure was ready to assemble, then when it came time to insert the columns into the housing, disaster struck and now most of it is on the floor.

I learned a lot from this attempt however. The acrylic rods holding the letters were just too flexible once put in the frame. They rubbed against one another causing letters to be knocked off. The foam frame held up well and served its purpose perfectly, the columns were just too loose. I could not get them taught enough.

Here is a picture of that frame.

This is just a short set back however. Having the lines assembled and standing, even though brief, refreshed my energy for this sculpture. My initial attempt to not have a solid physical body holding up the letters is just unavoidable. I think in the next attempt I will attach the letters to a flat surface and then bend that surface into a cylindrical shape. This will allow for a much speedier production and a much more rigid form which this project needs.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the assembled columns as they were before disintegrating.

7 More Hours, 18 More Lines

Up to Line 35. I have pushed through the most lettered columns and am now on a downhill slope towards completion. I will attempt to get 10-15 more done this evening.

FML

5 Hours, 17 Lines

17 Lines Down.
Lines 20 – 30 are the worst. After that it’s downhill.

Letters Finally In

Thanks to MK Signs I finally have all the pieces I need to finish this thing.

I spent last night organizing them all alphabetically. There were a few more than 2000 letters.

Here is the end result.

Illustrator Versions of Code

I generated some versions of the code in Illustrator to use to submit for fabrication. I also plan to use these vectors in vinyl wall decals if whatever space this project inhabits allows for it. Here they are.

Sculpture Sketches

I am still deciding on whether I want the base and top of this column to be rounded or square.  Also I am thinking now that this thing is going to be about 4 feet tall by about a foot and a half wide.  I figure that I can use hose clamps as internal support rings.  Here are some sketches and images.

 

Font

I have chosen a font for the sculpture.  SF Automaton.

The Project Proposal

The “Hello Quine” project aims to explore the aesthetic and sculptural quality of written source code.  I plan to write a program that will utilize the various structural necessities of well written code. The final application will showcase this concern with well structured code in the form of a quine, a computer program which produces a copy of its own source code as its output. This quine will take the form a virtual three-dimensional object.  This digital object will visually resemble a Greek column to represent the order and structure used in the code’s creation and maintenance.  This is similar to an actual Greek column as an architectural column gives structure and order for the building it supports.  This virtual column will be a quine as well as it will be composed of the code used to generate it.  Such a quine allows the code to display its inherent aesthetic design and order.

Once the virtual quine is written and displayable a physical representation of this code will be created.  The physical object will be relatively identical to the virtual object, the same source code in the shape of a column.  With the code complete, it can be copied into Illustrator or Photoshop and have a font applied to it in order to give it a particular style.  This object will be somewhere between three to four feet tall, depending on how much code ends up being required to generate the virtual column, and it will be around one foot wide.  The code will be laser cut from transparent acrylic sheets to remind us of the intangibility of digital objects.

With the virtual and physical objects complete, the three layers of code can be displayed as a whole or in parts.  Each stage, the source code, the output, and the physical sculpture, will have their own unique aesthetic qualities yet will be enhanced when displayed in conjunction with the other pieces.