Rhetorical Code Studies
Discovering Arguments in and around Code
by Kevin Brock
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?Building on current scholarly work in digital rhetoric, software studies, and technical communication, Brock connects and continues ongoing conversations among rhetoricians, technical communicators, software studies scholars, and programming practitioners to demonstrate how software code and its surrounding discourse are highly rhetorical forms of communication. He considers examples ranging from large, well-known projects like Mozilla Firefox to small-scale programs like the "FizzBuzz" test common in many programming job interviews. Undertaking specific examinations of code texts as well as the contexts surrounding their composition, Brock illuminates the variety and depth of rhetorical activity taking place in and around code, from individual differences in style to changes in large-scale organizational and community norms.
Rhetorical Code Studies holds significant implications for digital communication, multimodal composition, and the cultural analysis of software and its creation. It will interest academics and students of writing, rhetoric, and software engineering as well as technical communicators and developers of all types of software. 
Book Description
Software developers work rhetorically to make meaning through the code they write. In some ways, writing code is like any other form of communication; in others, it proves to be new, exciting, and unique. In Rhetorical Code Studies, Kevin Brock explores how software code serves as meaningful communication through which software developers construct arguments that are made up of logical procedures and express both implicit and explicit claims as to how a given program operates.?Building on current scholarly work in digital rhetoric, software studies, and technical communication, Brock connects and continues ongoing conversations among rhetoricians, technical communicators, software studies scholars, and programming practitioners to demonstrate how software code and its surrounding discourse are highly rhetorical forms of communication. He considers examples ranging from large, well-known projects like Mozilla Firefox to small-scale programs like the "FizzBuzz" test common in many programming job interviews. Undertaking specific examinations of code texts as well as the contexts surrounding their composition, Brock illuminates the variety and depth of rhetorical activity taking place in and around code, from individual differences in style to changes in large-scale organizational and community norms.
Rhetorical Code Studies holds significant implications for digital communication, multimodal composition, and the cultural analysis of software and its creation. It will interest academics and students of writing, rhetoric, and software engineering as well as technical communicators and developers of all types of software.
This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA). You can download Rhetorical Code Studies ebook for free in PDF format (1.1 MB).
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Toward the Rhetorical Study of Code
Chapter 2
Rhetoric and the Algorithm
Chapter 3
"I Have No Damn Idea Why This Is So Convoluted": Analyzing Arguments Surrounding Code
Chapter 4
Developing Arguments in Code: The Case of Mozilla Firefox
Chapter 5
Composing in Code: A Brief Engagement with JavaScript
Chapter 6
Conclusions
Book Details
Title
Rhetorical Code Studies
Subject
Computer Science
Publisher
University of Michigan Press
Published
2019
Pages
233
Edition
1
Language
English
ISBN13
9780472131273
ISBN10
0472131273
ISBN13 Digital
9780472125005
ISBN10 Digital
0472125001
PDF Size
1.1 MB
License
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