ABSTRACT
By looking closely at the JavaScript programming of Hike Wild Montana, this chapter discusses how the work of environmental writing extends into domains of pixel and tracker, as well as deriving significant meaning from the discipline-specific languages and discourse communities of programmers. In the specific case of Hike Wild Montana, code can become a species of environmental writing that can be historicized and contextualized alongside publications that announce or discuss wilderness hikes dated to the mid-20th century. In Hike Wild Montana, the “glue” language envisioned by Brendan Eich becomes an alternative form of intervention within the history of a broader advocacy movement for wilderness. Whereas the participatory or representational nature of an application warrants careful study, beneath the surface of any given web-based services lays an alternative rhetorically rich language. JavaScript enhanced the design of websites, but invited programmers who could quickly learn the language to begin experimenting with and generating novel solutions to website design on the client-side.
