Code Is Political

Remember TrumpScript, the satirical Python-based programming language targeting the eponymous presidential candidate that popped up on the Internet earlier in 2016? It’s unlikely that it will be used to write much software, but its quirks—including the tagline “Making Python great again” and the inability to run on computers in China and Mexico—resonated with those baffled by Donald Trump's election-season pronouncements. When did coding become political speech? As it turns out, TrumpScript is part of a broader phenomenon in which programming languages serve non-computational purposes.

Prior to TrumpScript's release, a number of “esoteric” languages—Arnold C and LOLCODE, to name a few—surfaced, infusing blithe humor into computer code to create subcultural inside jokes. Concomitantly, and perhaps more surprisingly, artists and computer scientists have been revealing code as a political force, using its syntax, grammar, and orthography to encourage serious discourse about social change.