Piet is a programming language created by David Morgan-Mar. It is an esoteric language meaning that it was designed as an experiment to explore the boundaries of coding, and not as an actual useful language. Morgan-Mar first created Piet in Piet was named after Piet Mondrian, the creator and pioneer of geometric abstract art. This is because Piet is composed of ‘codels’ or blocks of 20 different colors instead of words or symbols like most codes. These ‘codels’ are then compiled into ‘color blocks’ which are the basic units of the code. The code runs front the top left to right and then down following each transition in codel color which depict commands, while other colors like black and white depict spaces where there is no code. What command is used is determined by changes in hue and or lightness of the codels. The program is read with an interpreter called the Direction Pointer which follows a set of rules as it reads the colors of the codels throughout the code. In the end, unlike Processing, a coding language that runs and turns into art, Piet code is art itself that can run a program.
An artistic version of the basic “Hello world!” program:
Other examples of programs can be found at:
http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/piet/samples.html