Digital text writing technologies

Contrary to popular belief, the intersection of literature and computer science is nothing new. As early as the 1940s, Alan Turing, logician and computer pioneer, tried his hand at programming "exquisite cadavers" entitled "Love Letters" on one of the first computers. But since these early attempts, computer poets have remained rare, until machines became easier to program and creative software appeared that could be used by non-specialists. Parallel to this experimental literature, another use of the computer developed, exploiting the digitization of literary texts to subject them to computer "reading" programs. As early as 1963, following Jean-Claude Gardin's work on the "Conceptual analysis of the Koran on punched cards", researchers began to take advantage of computer resources in the study of texts. Today, with publication on new media such as the Internet, CD-ROMs and, more recently, e-books, the whole field of literature is massively affected and turned upside down by IT. The traditional book has ceased to be the sole vehicle for the written word. New ways of reading and writing are emerging, and new uses are emerging that shift the positions usually assigned to authors and readers. Detached from its paper support, the text fragments, deconstructs and recomposes itself as it is read. A technology that is both material and intellectual, hypertext is the emblematic figure in these metamorphoses of the written word. It marks a new stage in the already long history of writing, symbolizing its entry into the digital age. However, it is not enough to describe all digital writing, which uses sometimes highly complex procedures to explore the paths of creation.