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classes of programming language. Each design pattern identifies a kind of problem,
and describes a generalised structure towards a solution.
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The creative process is guided by the programmer's concept of what is a valid
end result. This is shaped by the programmer's current artistic focus, being the per-
ceptual qualities they are currently interested in, perhaps congruent with a cultural
theme such as a musical genre or artistic movement. Transformational creativity
can be triggered in the CSF when traversal extends outside the bounds of the search
space. If the discovered conceptual instance is valued, then the search space may be
extended to include it. If, however, it is not valued, then the traversal strategy may
be modified to avoid similar instances in the future.
Because the traversal strategy of a programmer includes external notation and
computation, they are likely to be less successful in writing software that meets
their preconceptions, or in other words more successful in being surprised by the
results. A creative process that includes external computation will follow less pre-
dictable path as a result. Nonetheless the process has the focus of a search space,
and is guided by value in relation to a rich perceptual framework, and so while un-
predictable, this influence is far from random, being meaningful interplay between
human/computer language and human perceptual experience. The human concepts
and algorithm are continually transformed in respect to one another, and to percep-
tual affect, in creative feedback.
According to our embodied view, not only is perception crucial in evaluating
output within bricolage programming, but also in structuring the space in which
programs are conceptualised. Indeed if the embodied view of CMT holds in gen-
eral, the same would apply to all creative endeavour. From this we find motivation
for the field of computational creativity in grounding an artificial creative agent
in its environment. This is done by acquiring computational models of perception
sufficient for the agent to both evaluate its own works and structure its conceptual
system. Then the agent would have a basis for guiding changes to its own concep-
tual system and generative traversal strategy, able to modify itself to find artifacts
that it was not programmed to find, and place value judgements on them. Such an
agent would need to adapt to human culture in order to interact with shifting cul-
tural norms, keeping its conceptual system and resultant creative process coherent
within that culture. For now, however, this is wishful thinking, and we must accept
generative computer programs which extend human creativity, but are not creative
agents in their own right.
9.6 Programming in Time
“She is not manipulating the machine by turning knobs or pressing buttons. She is writing
messages to it by spelling out instructions letter by letter. Her painfully slow typing seems
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This structural heuristic approach to problem solving is inspired by work in the field of urban
design (Alexander et al.
1977
).
