Draw me a Quadrangle

Drawing the quadrangle through Sol Lewitt’s instructions paralleled the experience of coding. Sol Lewitt’s instructions were precise and specific, similar to the code or “instructions” a programmer would type into a compiler. When programming, one must be extremely careful to include every little detail and check every case, so that the compiler doesn’t become confused. It’s often quite easy to assume incorrectly that the compiler is “smart” enough to know when to automatically check for certain cases. Sol Lewitt exaggerates the importance of detail by over emphasizing direction, position and relativity to other lines on the page which he instructs the audience to draw. Creating the quadrangle proved to be extremely tedious and unnecessarily time consuming because it was actually too detailed. Now I realize that it is amazing how compilers can take over-detailed instructions, analyze and reproduce the product in a logical correct procedure. For compilers, relativity is everything. As a human, we can only contain and consume so much information before comparisons between points or positions start to become confusing. Our intelligence and ability to make assumptions ironically becomes a hindrance.