How about "live coding is performative coding" as a way of thinking/talking
about it? Not necessarily in the sense of stage performance, but in the
sense of performative speech:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performativity
The famous (and outdated) example being, "I now pronounce you man and wife"
- i.e. speaking the words actually makes the marriage happen, rather than
just describing the event.
Code and software in general have been discussed for some time as
performative:
https://www.google.com/search?q=code+as+performative+speech&oq=code+as+performative+speech
But often what's referred to is to the execution of the code. The
distinction in live coding is that the "coding" is performative, not just
the "code." Coding = execution = performance. I now pronounce you B flat
diminished.
While lay audiences may not immediately grok the bit about performativity,
the term "performative coding" has the advantage that it can also be
understood in terms of stage performance, performance art, etc. So it can
give people a quick definition to immediately latch on to, with a more
nuanced definition available for those who stick around. (Something like
"free software = free as in speech, not as in beer." Even if you didn't
really get what that meant at first, misunderstanding it as "free as in
beer" - which it sometimes is - pulled you in close enough.)
-Amy
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 3:20 PM, <amindfv_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, I'll bite:
> My personal definition has to do not just with the machines but with
> the mental processes: it's the creating and possibly changing the
> abstractions of a system while the system runs.
>
> E.g. imagine a pre-written drum machine program which reads arrays like
> `snare = [0,1,0,1]` and plays samples on the `1`s. If I change these arrays
> live, that isn't enough to be -- in my own definition -- "really"
> livecoding. (Although I'm improvising, and working in a "livecoding" tool).
>
> Similarly, I wouldn't (usually) call it livecoding if I plug my computer
> into my projector and "cd" and "mkdir" around in the command line.
> (Although it's live, and coding, and from-scratch, and with an audience)
>
> If it's art and there's an audience, the thing the audience "gets" is an
> understanding of how the artist understands the art (and art in general),
> at the same time as they're experiencing the work. If it's not art, the key
> thing is still that the programmers change the way the machine understands
> the world, while the machine's out in the world.
>
> Tom
>
>
> > El 30 dic 2015, a las 16:32, Jeffrey Brown <jeffbrown.the_at_gmail.com>
> escribió:
> >
> > I think the critical distinction between live-coding and other coding is
> in
> > the nature of the feedback cycle, but not its duration -- rather, it is
> in
> > whether there exists intermediate output, directed at the coder but not
> at
> > the end-user. Non-live coding has it, live coding does not.
> >
> > Both live and non-live coders can work with a very short feedback cycle:
> > run a test, examine the result, futz with something, run another test.
> > That's how (pretty much?) everone plays Tidal. However, when you play
> > Tidal, those intermediate "tests" are part of the output. Indeed there is
> > no other output.
> >
> >
> >> On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 12:42 PM, David Barbour <dmbarbour_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Dec 29, 2015 12:08 AM, "Evan Buswell" <ebuswell_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> 3) Is coding a function of computers? Are computers special or is code
> >> special?
> >>
> >> Computers are special.
> >>
> >> Humans are tool users. We can extend our physical abilities with tools.
> But
> >> historically, the only way to operate far beyond our physical reach has
> >> been to command other humans. This works, but it's laggy, unreliable,
> and
> >> tends towards severe inequality between the humans doing the commanding
> and
> >> those receiving the commands.
> >>
> >> We know from various experiments that even 200ms latency is enough to
> amply
> >> destroy the sense of direct control. Immersion in VR or AR requires
> >> latencies under 20ms. Computers are the only tool that can meet this
> >> requirement while extending human reach far beyond our physical bodies.
> >>
> >> Of course, to leverage computers as tools, we need both computerized
> >> control over something (music, a smart home, a robotic factory, etc.)
> and
> >> we need human control over our computers. Automation has been much
> slower
> >> than was hoped for by those envisioning it, but internet of things,
> >> augmented reality, and semantic web are making gradual progress (and
> >> occasional leaps). The latter aspect - control of our computers - has
> been
> >> intentionally undermined by the computing industry (esp. Microsoft and
> >> Apple) for economic reasons.
> >>
> >> Conventional applications constrain expression, extension, abstraction,
> and
> >> composition. Programming languages tackle exactly these concerns, giving
> >> the programmers control, but are traditionally not exposed to 'users'
> and
> >> are rarely designed for live use. Live coding unifies PL and UX
> principles,
> >> directly using a programming language as an HCI. PLs can take many
> forms,
> >> of course, not limited to textual code. Graphical PLs have been around
> in
> >> one form or another since the 1960s, and some people have tried spoken
> PLs
> >> with mixed success.
> >>
> >> So, computers are special tools and live coding is the way to fully
> wield
> >> them.
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> Read the whole topic here: livecode:
> >> http://lurk.org/r/topic/4JFPD7MDRvzpGASalon17t
> >>
> >> To leave livecode, email livecode_at_group.lurk.org with the following
> email
> >> subject: unsubscribe
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jeffrey Benjamin Brown
> >
> > --
> >
> > Read the whole topic here: livecode:
> > http://lurk.org/r/topic/1YIMiTBEcwg4e6Qg0KU2xp
> >
> > To leave livecode, email livecode_at_group.lurk.org with the following
> email subject: unsubscribe
>
> --
>
> Read the whole topic here: livecode:
> http://lurk.org/r/topic/qbtUmIa8T01LXyspNxQfV
>
> To leave livecode, email livecode_at_group.lurk.org with the following email
> subject: unsubscribe
>
--
Read the whole topic here: livecode:
http://lurk.org/r/topic/1z8YZ6M0cNGwS1KuDfoP5d
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Received on Wed Dec 30 2015 - 23:48:49 GMT