On Tue, Feb 05, 2013 at 04:38:37PM +0000, alex wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've started trying to give the wikipedia page a bit of a revamp:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_coding
>
Nice work!
> It'd be great to have it up-to-date with the latest technological
> developments as well as cultural movements. I've linked it with the
> use of live coding in lectures etc, and started describing some of the
> technical and UI developments, but once you start.. Any help very
> much appreciated!
I'd like to have a conversation about the first sentence, before I try
any editing. For reference;
Live coding (sometimes referred to as 'on-the-fly programming', 'just
in time programming', 'live programming') is a programming practice
centred upon the use of improvised interactive programming.
I'm not contesting that this is true, but I feel a little awkward with
the focus. Here we are saying that livecoding is a certain type of
programming, and later, because of the reference to sound and visuals
in the next sentence, the link to self-expression becomes clear. I
think I'd be happier with saying that livecoding is a mode of
self-expression that uses programming as a method.
Personally I don't get up in the morning wondering whether I should
program up a text editor or some low-fi acid-house. Instead I feel
like making some music and then can pick from livecoding, a sequencer
or manually playing some analogue synths.
The current focus of that sentence might make sense if we'd also like
to talk about the kind of livecoding we may perform if there is some
running system that needs a new feature but can't be brought off-line,
but so far we are not.
I like the focus on time; that's a important topic in showing the
workings of algorithms. I'm going to push for a coherent paragraph on
that on ChucK; not having ChucK there is a bit silly.
It strikes me that the way Wikipedia works pushes this article in a
certain direction. Wikipedia (rightfully) demands sources but it's far
easier to find sources on the research aspects to it all than on the
recreational and expressive side. I can probably find ten papers on
where various aspects of livecoding fit into the history of computer
science before lunch but I can't cite "20 drunk dancers" as a source
on how much fun it all is. I have a hunch that we'd run into trouble
outfitting dancers with equipment measuring their dopamine and
endorphins levels as a function of the exposed usage of
lambda-calculus in sound-generation.
Yours,
Kas.
Received on Wed Feb 06 2013 - 09:46:45 GMT