Schedule | Description | Resources | Grading | Policies | References
This course provides students with a foundation in programming and computational thinking, and their application in creative projects. Topics covered may include generative graphics and sound, interactive media, and others. Students will gain practical skills through hands-on experience and experimentation, learning to integrate computing into artistic practices. No prior programming experience is required.
Prerequisites: None
Restrictions students who have received credit for any of CSE 8A, 8B, 11, 6R, COGS 18, BILD 62, DSC20 (or equivalents) may not enroll for credit in this course.
We will use the open source creative coding language p5.js within a jupyterlite environment. Try it out here!
You will need access to a laptop or other computer. I recommend a notebook specifically for taking notes, drawing ideas, “writing” code, etc.
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
| Week | Day | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Week 0 | Sept 25 | What is Computing and the Arts?; What is creative code?; Why p5? Web editor overview // jupyter lite; submitting notebooks; 2D coordinate plane, functions (using p5 functions; shapes) |
| Week 1 | Sept 30 | Functions; arcs(); custom shapes; Variables; operators; |
| Oct 2 | conditional statements (if); | |
| Week 2 | Oct 7 | if else; if/else if; interactivity functions (mouseX, mouseY, mouseIsPressed); visual plotting |
| Oct 9 | map(); counters and conditions; images; mousePressed(); | |
| Week 3 | Oct 14 | random() values; images; tint; |
| Oct 16 | simple Array, random() selection; | |
| Week 4 | Oct 21 | loops, index over an Array; array of pictures; |
| Oct 23 | for Loop; nested loops | |
| Week 5 | Oct 28 | Transformations: translate, rotate, scale; 3D: primitive shapes, coordinate plane |
| Oct 30 | 3D: advanced (lights, materials, loading models) | |
| Week 6 | Nov 4 | P5 sound library - Music Player, if statement, map(), mouse interaction. |
| Nov 6 | P5 sound library - Create a Music Video - amplitude() | |
| Week 7 | Nov 11 | NO CLASS - VETERANS DAY |
| Nov 13 | Video (finding, adding, and using video methods) Critique and Review |
|
| Week 8 | Nov 18 | Video II |
| Nov 20 | OOP or other advanced topics | |
| Week 9 | Nov 25 | DOM and html5. p5-notebook (jupyterlite) to html and web IDE; Presenting work through web. |
| Nov 27 | NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING | |
| Week 10 | Dec 2 | Project work time. Choose a project to post to class website vis42.org |
| Dec 4 | Final Showcase | |
| Finals Week | Dec 12 | All work and documentation due |
Every* week you will have the following assignments:
*Towards the end of the semester, we’ll have one or two longer projects.
Course-specific policies and rules.
| ICAM Policies | Attendance | Late Work | Academic Integrity | Other People’s Code | UCSD Course Policies |
File naming conventions and submissions. More [TK].
On-time attendance is required as well as work inside and outside of section. Please notify your instructor in advance if you must be absent for illness or family emergency. Any absences must be cleared with the instructor, or justified with written documentation (e.g. letter from team, etc.). We do not differentiate between mental and physical health and in either case please be in communication for when you need to take a day off. After a student misses a week’s worth of classes each subsequent missed class will result in the reduction of the final grade by a full letter grade (i.e., A to B, B- to C-). Excessive tardiness or leaving early will also impact your grade and will follow the same rubric.
On-time attendance is required. Lateness or leaving early, when not cleared with the instructor, will also impact your participation grade. Lateness will be counted as 80% for your participation grade for the day.
Late Work Grading Policy. Late work will be docked 5% for each day they are late (if an assignment is two days late, the grade will be docked 10%). An assignment submitted after the due date time on the due date will still be docked 5%. The lowest possible grade for late work is 60%, which means that for an assignment submitted more than 8 days late, no more than 40% will be docked, but the maximum grade you will receive is 60%. Details about submission format and due date are given in Canvas.
Excused Late Work. Requests to submit late work for special circumstances must be approved by your instructor at least 24 hours before the due date and time. Any late requests made less than 24 hours before the assignment is due may still be subject to a lateness penalty. We do not distinguish between mental and physical health. Email your instructor, 24 hours in advance, explaining generally the reason you are missing class and your plans for making up any missed lecture, activity, and assignment.
An assignment may receive an F if a student does not participate in every phase of the development of the project and meet all deadlines for preliminary materials (proposals, drafts, etc.). Failure to submit any of the graded course assignments is grounds for failure in the course.
Integrity of scholarship is essential for an academic community. The University expects that both faculty and students will honor this principle and in so doing protect the validity of University intellectual work. For students, this means that all academic work will be done by the individual to whom it is assigned, without unauthorized aid of any kind. http://senate.ucsd.edu/Operating-Procedures/Senate-Manual/Appendices/2
If you use a piece of code from the p5 reference or another piece of publicly available code, you must cite your use of it at the top of your code file as a comment. Include a link to the original code file, the author, and the date.
Students are responsible for knowing the university academic policies and resources found on this page:
Students registered with the Office for Students with Disabilities are to provide copies of their AFA letters to both the course instructor and the OSD Liaison of the Visual Arts Department . If you have any questions about utilizing your OSD accommodation, please contact Dept. OSD Liaison at vis-ug@ucsd.edu or 858-534-2860. You may also contact the Office of Students with Disabilities directly at osd@ucsd.edu or 858-534-4382. http://disabilities.ucsd.edu/
This public acknowledgment serves to honor and respect Indigenous peoples and their land on which our campus resides. UC San Diego was built upon the territory of the Kumeyaay Nation. From time immemorial, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. Today, the Kumeyaay people continue to maintain their political sovereignty and cultural traditions as vital members of the San Diego community.