On 1/5/08, douglas edric stanley <destanley_at_mac.com> wrote:
> On the subject of livecoding interfaces other than keyboards, my
> Rubik's Cube controller was originally designed for Livecoding. It
> quickly turned into a simple 6-track midi sequencer but that wasn't
> the original intention. I suppose I should make some more digestible
> demos of how that aspect worked...
The Rubik's cube interface as you've used it is a perfect example of
languahge with very restrictive "syntax" - one is severely limited in
what one can express in this syntax at the same time incorrect program
is impossible to create.
Which reminds me of Sapir-Whorf hypothsis from linguistics (there we
go again), that "postulates a systematic relationship between the
grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that
person both understands the world and behaves in it." [1]
Apparently "Kenneth E. Iverson, the originator of the APL programming
language, believed that the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis applied to computer
languages (without actually mentioning the hypothesis by name). His
Turing award lecture, "Notation as a tool of thought", was devoted to
this theme, arguing that more powerful notations aided thinking about
computer algorithms." [1] and [2]
[1]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis
[2]:
http://elliscave.com/APL_J/tool.pdf
(APL can't be expressed in ASCII, in Unicode APL symbols have their own block!)
On the other hand your cube interface, or programming language, has
for me very different ... connotations? It makes one consider side
effects of one's every action as each twist or turn affects the sides
you see as well those you don't. I've never tried it but I guess it
makes a good meditation medium.
And finally, on some very different level of abstraction, I don't see
the cube as the means of control at all, but as a song, song ABOUT the
cube. As one solves or scrambles or turns it around, one listens to
the cube telling about itself, about what's happening to it. The
actual working the cube becomes the content of the story it tells.
very holistic, you see?
--
cheers,
artm
http://lab.v2.nl/
Received on Sat Jan 05 2008 - 11:02:48 GMT