MANIAC Suite

[dluman]

Introduction

This is both an intent to participate and the beginning of a more comprehensive program log.

Description

This November, I plan to write a project using Intel 8031/8051 assembler to produce a work told via punched IBM 5081 cards (or other standard, yet to be really decided). The goal of this is to one day produce 1 physical copy of the work as a computational artist book. This project may involve Python to do the convenient parts, but I am going to try to stay as much as I can within my technical constraint.

This work takes some inspiration from the title computational machine developed the Los Alamos National Laboratory, intending be a kind of notional autononfiction. But, let's digress: that sounds far too literary a pretention to talk about at this point. As we all know from NGM projects, things can go quite differently.

More later. But for now, this is enough.

[pjfpotter]

you magnificent lunatic. the chutzpah! the hubris!

[dluman]

To add a bit to check the method -- I've been thinking about this project for a long time as taking some inheritance from Nabokov's Pale Fire, given the annotation-rich nature of code.

(Also, the concept of poioumena in general.)

[reakain]

Punch cards!!! o Oh yes, I cannot wait to see where this goes! Punch card programing has a history just through the lost medium and I cannot wait to see the result!

[dluman]

After the last couple of weeks and essentially setting #48 down until probably tomorrow or Monday (to do some minor changes to make it more interesting and readable), I was at a dead end with this project, having spent quite a while writing a very long algorithm in x86 (the Intel variety). I've moved all of this to a folder affectionately titled dumpster_fire, and decided to start over and, as the name of the project suggests, become a true MANIAC this weekend.

That was until I discovered this hidden in the Fermi archives at U of Chicago. There aren't a lot of complete examples of work run on the MANIAC out at Los Alamos, but this document will serve as a kind of ur-text for how I can continue. I have a mind now to create an esolang and do some kind of work on top of that. This could be interesting.

I am very much impressed with the history I've learned about our very own @cpressey, the esolang magician, and take much inspiration in this direction.

Of course, I am slated for disaster here. But that makes it more fun.

Also: not to ignore that the MANIAC was converted to/from a punched tape system rather than merely cards. The physical form of this project may change, but that's a longer-term thing. This November, I am concerned with the digital version.