Bricolage programming is a creative feedback loop of making a code change, perceiving the output, and reacting — without forward planning

After Lévi-Strauss and Turkle & Papert, bricolage programming describes an improvisational approach where the programmer forms ideas while working in the editor, making edits in reaction to perceived output rather than executing a pre-specified plan. The process is a dual feedback loop: an inner loop between imagination and algorithm, an outer loop between algorithm and perceptual output. Live coding radicalises bricolage by collapsing the compile-test gap: the outer loop becomes instantaneous. This repositions programming from engineering (plan → implement → test) to artistic practice (act → perceive → react).

Examples

McLean’s Processing case study: a bezier curve program produces ‘hairy’ output suggesting ‘automatic writing’; the artist changes the concept in response to perception, not the plan. Paul Klee: ‘the creator controls whether what he has produced so far is good.‘

Assessment

Contrast bricolage programming with test-driven development: what does each assume about where the specification comes from? Why is TDD poorly suited to artist-programmer contexts? Give an example of ‘aberration’ in a bricolage live session that leads to transformational creativity.