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
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Received on Tue Dec 29 2015 - 20:42:48 GMT