Rhetorical Code Studies: Discovering Arguments In And Around Code

Description

Software developers work rhetorically to make meaning through the code they write. In some ways, writing code is like any other form of communication; in others, it proves to be new, exciting, and unique. In Rhetorical Code Studies, Kevin Brock explores how software code serves as meaningful communication through which software developers construct arguments that are made up of logical procedures and express both implicit and explicit claims as to how a given program operates. Building on current scholarly work in digital rhetoric, software studies, and technical communication, Brock connects and continues ongoing conversations among rhetoricians, technical communicators, software studies scholars, and programming practitioners to demonstrate how software code and its surrounding discourse are highly rhetorical forms of communication. He considers examples ranging from large, well-known projects like Mozilla Firefox to small-scale programs like the "FizzBuzz" test common in many programming job interviews. Undertaking specific examinations of code texts as well as the contexts surrounding their composition, Brock illuminates the variety and depth of rhetorical activity taking place in and around code, from individual differences in style to changes in large-scale organizational and community norms. Rhetorical Code Studies holds significant implications for digital communication, multimodal composition, and the cultural analysis of software and its creation. It will interest academics and students of writing, rhetoric, and software engineering as well as technical communicators and developers of all types of software. Contents......Page 12 List of Tables......Page 14 List of Practice Scripts......Page 16 List of Figures......Page 18 Introduction......Page 20 1. Toward the Rhetorical Study of Code......Page 28 What Does Rhetorical Code Studies Involve?......Page 31 Digital Rhetoric......Page 34 Critical Code Studies......Page 40 Software Studies......Page 42 Technical Communication......Page 46 Rhetorical Code Studies’ Gains and Contributions......Page 48 From Algorithm to Algorithmic Culture......Page 52 Algorithmic Criticism in the Humanities......Page 58 Arguments in Code as Algorithmic Meaning Making......Page 70 Conclusions......Page 87 3. “I Have No Damn Idea Why This Is So Convoluted”: Analyzing Arguments Surrounding Code......Page 90 Rhetorical Scholarship on Online Discourse Communities......Page 91 The Rhetorical and Social Makeup of Open Source Software Development Communities......Page 94 Developers’ Rhetorical Awareness of Their Coding Practices......Page 114 Conclusions......Page 131 4. Developing Arguments in Code: The Case of Mozilla Firefox......Page 134 Mozilla Firefox: A Code Study......Page 139 Conclusions......Page 168 5. Composing in Code: A Brief Engagement with JavaScript......Page 170 Procedural Progymnasmata......Page 171 Exercises in Repetition: Looping......Page 176 Exercises in Style: FizzBuzz......Page 180 Exercises in Repetition: Object Creation......Page 185 Exercises in Arrangement: Bubble Sort......Page 189 Exercises in Invention: enthymemeGenerator.js......Page 192 Conclusions......Page 198 6. Conclusions......Page 200 Rhetorical Code Studies Thus Far......Page 201 Assessing Computational Action......Page 205 A Future for Rhetorical Code Studies......Page 209 Bibliography......Page 212 Index......Page 226