Extreme TrackingCritical Code Studies vs. Software Studies
Ξ December 7th, 2007 | → 1 Comments | ∇ test, CCS, codework |
[Updated: 12/8/07]
There’s an exciting conversation over at Writer Response Theory about Critical Code Studies. Jeremy Douglass, who recently took on the position of the Software Studies postdoc at UCSD, proposed a Venn diagram to illustrate the relationship between Critical Code Studies and Software Studies. Jeremy seems to be beginning his post doc by trying to firm up some definitions.
For Douglass, Software Studies and Critical Code Studies share some but not all interests.
On the other hand, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, a driving force behind the Software Studies program at UCSD, argues that Critical Code Studies is a central component of Software Studies. Software Studies, by this view, is the uber-field and Critical Code Studies is a set of analytical practices within it.
If we return to Douglass’ original formulation, we find the source of the disagreement (or why Jeremy’s postulation doesn’t fit within Noah’s): Douglass is trying to define the approaches according to the aspect of digital culture that they emphasize:
Software Studies emphasizes computation.
Critical Code Studies emphasizes uncompiled source code.
There might be uncompiled source code that does not get computed (for example, compiled) and there might be processes that occur in computation that were not driven by uncompiled source code. Would it be too simple to say that one analysis emphasizes the executable and the execution while the other emphasizes the language of those executables?
Noah asks what uncompiled source code is not software? Noah doesn’t object here, but rather asks for an example of source code that is not a part of software. From that, I derive the following implication.
Software Studies examines software and related material
Critical Code Studies examines code and related material.
According to this logic, the code is just one of the many aspects of software, so CCS, and more broadly Code Studies, would be a subset of Software Studies.
Subsequently, their debate ensues along the lines of objects of study (what counts as software or code) and approaches (what counts as software studies or critical code studies).