Stewart Smith

Topics

JavaScript (JS)

Works that make particular use of my favorite widely-used programming language. I’ve been an enthusiastic fan since before Douglas Crockford wrote JavaScript: The Good Parts . It’s dirty and weirdly flexible; so flexible that cowards tried to graft classical inheritance onto it, and later invented TypeScript. (Disgusting.) It could only be better if it had been allowed to be Scheme as Brendan Eich had intended. (I strongly disagree with Eich’s early-2000s stance against gay marriage, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge him as the initial creator of JavaScript. We must contend with our history rather than ignore it.)

Bronson (animation framework)

Realtime 3D animation framework created by myself and Robert Gerard Pietrusko specifically for sketching, proofing, and deploying 360˚ data animations intended for display on the walls of custom-built rotunda environments. (Later adapted for more general purpose use.) It was the key component of our collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro on Exit (Terre Natale) . Bronson was written in Java , used OpenGL for graphics rendering, and made use of the then-beta version of Processing . Named after Charles Bronson , a rugged man who will get the job done, no matter the ugliness required.

Google Data Arts Team (DAT)

Google’s Data Arts Team (AKA, “DAT” for short), originally lead by Aaron Koblin, was a specialized group within Google that explored the ongoing dialog between artists and emerging technologies. DAT (located in San Francisco) began as a component of Google Creative Lab (located in New York, itself part of Google’s marketing division), but due to changes in leadership and market pressures was forced to find various new homes within Google; eventually dissolving. Or at least as far as I understand.