De/Frag #307

De/Frag is an homage to a classic algorithm in early computer art: Flood Fill. As a teenager in the late '80s, and without any literature, I spent weeks implementing a version for my very own drawing program for the Atari XL. It was the first non-trivial (to me) algorithm which made me want to learn more about data structures, the concept of recursion, divide-and-conquer...

Even though Flood Fill was available in most commercial drawing & office apps of the time, I gained a deep appreciation of the algorithm by building it from scratch myself. 30+ years later I know its aesthetic possibilities are still far from exhausted. This is an invitation for re-exploration by others too!

As with many design algorithms, my primary interest isn't even the final result, but observing the inner workings. I massively slowed down and time-sliced the process for this piece. I do recommend giving each of these unique versions some time to allow them to evolve their ever-changing patterns (Note: each piece never loops!).