On Thu, 2006-09-07 at 16:03 +0200, Till Bovermann wrote:
> I totally agree with you; and want to put up another critical point:
> people/musical instruments "forgive" you in a special way when doing
> something wrong: they don't do what you expect, but they do something
> close to what you expected. Interpeter/Programming languages not.
> When you misspell a word – bang – you get an error message. Which is –
> in time critical environments such as musical performances–
> frustrating/irritating/flow destroying to the human player...
> But on the other way it is nice to have the possibility to get what
> you really wanted rather than an approximation.
Yes all good points, although perhaps the reason why programming
languages are so unforgiving is more to do with the requirements of
business logic than any innate restrictions on computer readable
languages.
Languages where you can't have syntax errors are interesting here (where
any combination of the alphabet is syntactically valid), as is Craig's
livecoding with computer readable english, interactive fiction style.
Integrating interpreters into editors (for example with eclipse) allows
an editing environment rich enough to help avoid errors too.
Also there are probably some errors you can do with a drumkit that would
lead to a crash of the whole performance, such as break your last stick
or fall off your stool.
alex
Received on Thu Sep 07 2006 - 14:15:39 BST