melaniehoff

Always Already Programming

Everyone who interacts with computers has in important ways always already been programming them.

Every time you make a folder or rename a file on your computer, the actions you take through moving your mouse and clicking on buttons, translate into text-based commands or scripts which eventually translate into binary.

Why are the common conceptions of programmer and user so divorced from each other? The distinction between programmer and user is reinforced and maintained by a tech industry that benefits from a population rendered computationally passive. If we accept and adopt the role of less agency, we then make it harder for ourselves to come into more agency.

We've unpacked the "user" a little, now let's look at the "programmer." When a programmer is writing javascript, they are using prewritten, packaged functions and variables in order to carry out the actions they want their code to do. In this way, the programmer is also the user. Why is using pre-made scripts seen

danreeves

function kinopioExtension() {

    let dataAttr = 'data-kinopio-extension-by-dnrvs'

    function processCard(container, node, text) {

        // Clean out old nodes
        container.querySelectorAll(`[${dataAttr}]`).forEach(n => n.remove())

        // Clone the real one