A Look Into The Computer
Design with Code is quite a self-explanatory term. However, what is important to understand is whether a designer needs the code or is it just that jacket that looks good if you have it on? It is only in my third year that I have truly gotten to realise the importance of code. So what is it? Why do we need it? As Steve Jobs says in one of his Interviews, ‘ coding is no rocket science, it is merely a way of thinking.’ Realising this, I couldn’t help noticing the lack of logic in my process of thinking at the present moment. Coding trains your brain to think in logic; the logic of the computer. This also led on to the greater realization that what we consider a ‘computer language’ is not much different from any other language that we use in the modern day.
Exploring all the breakthrough moments such as The Mother of All Demos 1968, The CrossPad XP 1998, The Sketch Pad and many more, surprised me with the fact that many core interactions that we use in the modern day was actually ideated and their working prototype was demonstrated a long time back. It is usually that we say that technology is fast developing and technologies come and disappear overnight, every six months there is a new device. However, the core ideas are the ones intrinsic to Human Nature and have been present for a long time. These interactions do not age out but they are only modified and advanced to be used in the modern times. For example, the Cross Pad XD was recently incorporated in the Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition where one could write on paper and the image would be transferred to the computer in its true form.
We also delved into learning the concept and working of command lines using the terminal. Before this class when I would see a person working on what essentially is command lines I would swiftly classify them as the ‘Hackers’. Well, after this class gone are those days where I would fall for such tricks. I not only realised the usage of such a tool but also understood it’s working very easily. Like very practically if you were to edit a document without actually opening say because there was too much load on your laptop you could just do it by a command line. Or maybe your mouse is not working properly and you could locate a file and edit it without using a mouse.
A code isn’t just a skill set for designers. It also broadens the scope of possibilities of usage.
