Systems and programming II

Teacher : Julien Dutertre

In the age of the Internet and new technologies, of ever-faster, ever-more-present communication and information networks that are all too rarely questioned, this course will attempt to understand and reveal what's behind the scenes, to get inside the black box and analyze how it works. Initially, this analysis will be carried out through code and programming, the driving force and backbone of all infrastructures and systems. We'll start with HTML and CSS, which enable us to style, layout and, above all, display text, content, images, animations and generative practices (imagemagik, processing, p5.js). Then, the creation of a web application (via the flask framework) will lead us to a better understanding of the workings behind each click and an introduction to the python programming language. This web application will then be implemented on a local server configured within the course on a Raspberry Pi, giving us a better understanding of this type of tool. Mastering these tools will then enable us to explore the possibilities linked to installation, automation and interaction in the context of an experimental practice (system video playback/multiple synchronized screen sound, reactive/participative sculpture/installation, data server, capture/broadcast). The course will also include the creation of a chat room-type communication system in Python, in order to understand the client/server relationship and the entanglement of information flows. All these notions will be approached through the prism of Open Source, sharing and collaboration, always with a certain digital sobriety in mind (adapting tools to needs, making reasonable use of bandwidth, servers and technologies). The aim of this course is to popularize and demystify these different technologies and languages, so that they can be reinterpreted and hijacked, so that everyone can benefit from them according to their own practices and questions.