Code poetry is built on a simple premise: it is a single text that reads as poetry and executes as code.

The below is a working version of the Transcode Manifesto. A document I have be generating as a way to address and speak to the larger conceptual and organizational structures reoccurring across my various creative projects. This document is subject to change without notice, the version you read today may not be the version present here tomorrow.

Code is never one thing and is as dynamic as any semiotic form, constantly in flux. As we write this, machine-learning code generators, such as Github’s Copilot, are emerging as a major part of programming assistance even as LLMs also assist essay writing. We suspect, and our recent experiments have confirmed that suspicion, that they will also offer assistance in the interpretation of code. Like the seas of natural language, the ecology of computer source code is constantly shifting and so there is always a need for more reading practices and, of course, a wider and more diverse set of scholarly and creative minds embarking on this endeavor.