leeWe're live! An article with my collaborator Kit on the design of L5 creative coding library responding to permacomputing principles. This will be presented online as part of Computing within Limits next week.
Designing L5: A Permacomputing Approach to Creative Coding
https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.18481
Creative coding libraries provide high-level tools that make computational and algorithmic art accessible to artists and learners. Processing/p5 is one such family of libraries, known for its beginner-friendly approach and wide reach across artistic and technical communities. L5 is a new member of this family, implemented in Lua using the LOVE framework. It applies permacomputing principles, a movement addressing sustainability in computing inspired by permaculture, bringing these values to a community of practice not historically centered on them. This paper explores L5's design decisions and tensions between sustainability and usability through five case studies: 1. balancing perceived simplicity versus exposing the seams, 2. designing for lower resource consumption, 3. ensuring long-term stability, 4. constraining functionality, and 5. designing documentation for resource-constrained access. Rather than optimizing for a single metric, sustainable creative tools require navigating competing values transparently.
Designing L5: A Permacomputing Approach to Creative Coding
Creative coding libraries provide high-level tools that make computational and algorithmic art accessible to artists and learners. Processing/p5 is one such family of libraries, known for its beginner-friendly approach and wide reach across artistic and technical communities. L5 is a new member of this family, implemented in Lua using the LOVE framework. It applies permacomputing principles, a movement addressing sustainability in computing inspired by permaculture, bringing these values to a community of practice not historically centered on them. This paper explores L5's design decisions and tensions between sustainability and usability through five case studies: 1. balancing perceived simplicity versus exposing the seams, 2. designing for lower resource consumption, 3. ensuring long-term stability, 4. constraining functionality, and 5. designing documentation for resource-constrained access. Rather than optimizing for a single metric, sustainable creative tools require navigating competing values transparently.