On 03.08.2013, at 13:32, Abraham Coetzee <abraham_at_ml.sun.ac.za> wrote:
> Hi everyone.
> I'm a computer science masters student at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and am investigating live programming as part of visual thinking in computer programming.
>
> I am curious about the different ways employed to propagate source code changes, in running as well as 'paused' programs (say at a breakpoint).
…
>
> I'd appreciate your input.
> Thank you,
> Abraham
An interesting discussion!
For me, this question was at the core of live coding from the very beginning: essentially it is the question of "state": state as the description (the code / program) and state as the current state of the process that results from it. I have been conjecturing that the two are (in general) irreconcilable: they lead to what I call "algorithmic complementarity". In particular situations/systems etc. they can be reconciled (or simply decided). The general lack of congruence between the two makes live coding at the same time impossible and interesting, and it is the source of all sorts of displays, representations, languages.
The "local" solution within SuperCollider (jitlib) was to create a placeholder (so called proxy) that represents state in a stateless representation (which is, in turn embedded in a stateful system). The paper "Algorithms Today" is about this issue, if you want to have a look.
Best,
Julian
Received on Wed Aug 14 2013 - 20:57:41 BST