WOGL

Here is WOGL. Your job today is to play with it and make cool pictures.

WOGL is a programming language. It runs in your web browser, so all you need to do to write code with it is to click that link. There is no documentation for it, no instructions. You won’t find any information about it anywhere on the Internet. It’s completely made up! The only way to learn about it is to play with it. Today’s class is an exercise in learning by experiment.

There are only a few rules for today’s experimentation:

• Tinker. And keep tinkering.
• If you find something cool, share it with another student.
• If another student shares something with you, then share their excitement. Have fun! Be excellent to one another!
• You find something really cool, write it down so you can get it back later!
• If you think you’ve figured out part of how it works, share it with another student — but don’t just tell them right away. Find a way to let them have the “aha!” moment too. Give them an experiment: “Try this!” And then: “Notice that?” And then: “What if it’s doing this…?”
• Get curious.

Here are some hints to start your exploration:

• Play with the sliders for steps and number of sides.
• Try clicking in the “sides” numeric field and press the up/down arrow.
• Try typing different text in the text field at the top. You can type anything there! (Remember: if you find something really cool, write it down. Copy and paste it into a notes document or something.)
• You can always reload the page to get back to the original settings.

Here are some suggestions of good experiments to try. (Click the hidden ones to reveal them.) Use these for inspiration if you like, but the most important thing is for you to find your own experiments!

• Try your name in ALL UPPER CASE
• Change some parts of it to lower case, maybe one letter at a time
• Try repeating one word over and over
• Try some text with no spaces, and delete one letter at a time from the end
• Try some text with spaces, maybe 3-5 words, and delete one letter at a time from the end of the first word
• Add a single lowercase d and a space to the beginning
• Add a space and a single lowercase d to the end
• Append ' (an apostrophe)
• Repeat one letter over and over, then try that with some different letters
• Go back to PPP DSPS DSPS LAPLA' and try adding more repetitions of DSPS (including the space)
• Try PPP DSPS DSPS LAPLA' but with different permutations of DSPS, such as PSDS and SPDS

Here are some interesting WOGL programs to try. Copy and paste them into WOGL, then experiment:

• WOGL WOGL WOGL WOGL WOGL WOGL '
  (sides=3, then drag the “sides” slider slowly)

• DSNNDSSN DSNNDSSN DSNNDSSN L
  (sides=4)

• KAGTCPUSKv'APLSjVl'<XLE/O*E
  (sides=6, large-ish step, set +hue to a large value)

• SSSSSS DSSNNDNNSS DSSNNDNNSS DSSNNDNNSS L
  (chroma 0, translucent, play with the “lines” number)

• UUUUUUUUUUUUU EEEE'
  (try a bigger step, try up/down arrow in sides, change numbers of U and E repetitions with higher numbers of sides)

• EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE +'
  (small step, then play with sliders)

• ~N(L)~NL~A~(S) ~N(L)~NL~A~(S) ~N(L)~NL~A~(S) ~N(L)~NL~A~(S) ~N(L)~NL~A~(S) '
  Zoom out, set sides down to 4, add more repetitions

You may end the class thinking, “Cool pictures! Now what the heck is WOGL, anyway? What is even happening?!? This is really bugging me!” If that happens to you, then you are doing the activity right.

Have fun!