ThingeeLanguage

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ThingeeLanguage is the language used by The Thingee livecoding system. It asks the visual question: where does Toplap-compliant pure livecoding end and parameterization begin? Since all languages above machine language are written on top of other languages, we at Thingee Corps take a decidely non-purist tact and instead embrace an approach where the kinetics of performance - typing in this case - can be reasonably well-digested by the audience member, thus inducing a decidely moving experience for both performer and audience.

In other words: When experiencing a performance of a traditional mechanical musical instrument - or even an old analog video synth like one of these: http://www.audiovisualizers.com/toolshak/vsynths.htm - it's easy to understand and thus empathize with the causal relationship between the performance and the music. With coding, it's different, because the *physical mechanics* of typing don't cause the music or visuals. Shorter bits of code help make for an easier cause/effect relationship between what's typed (performed) and what's experienced by the listener or viewer. Thus, ThingeeLanguage enables shorter bits of code. It also might be easier for people unfamiliar with programming or with Lingo (the language the Thingee is written in) to understand the language itself, because it's succinct and fairly obvious. With terms like biggify, smallify, rotify, you tend to get the picture... (pun intended.)

But on the other hand: LivecodingIsNotSynaesthesia. There needs to be a space in between.

What is in the glorious vaporware future of ThingeeLanguage?

The Toplap Manifesto reminds us that: "Live coding is not about tools. Algorithms are thoughts. Chainsaws are tools. That's why algorithms are sometimes harder to notice than chainsaws."

ThingeeLanguage hopes to find the perfect golden spot where algorithms and kinetics meet, where the dancing of thoughts and the dancing on the screen and the dancing in the club converge harmoniciously.

-VJ Übergeek, ThingeeLanguage Maintainer