Patterns of Movement
in Live Languages
Alex McLean
http://yaxu.org/
alex@slab.org
Oral tradition of definite syllables, first formalised in written form late 18th century
In general vowels represent notes, and consonants embellishments
hiaradalla - an echo of the D note
Canntaireachd
Ken Stevens, 1962
Rona Lightfoot, "Canntaireachd", 2004
Defining live coding
Describing activity while it happens
Using a Turing complete language
Usually to make music, video or other time-based art
Usually using a computer interpreter
Often in front of an audience with projected screens
Assembley #11, Adem, 2007
Scott Hewitt and Samuel Freeman
Al-Jazari, Dave Griffiths
Study in Keith, Andrew Sorensen
Schemebricks and Feedback.pl
(slub)
"Text is often taken to be something stable, unchangeable, something that is projected into the future of a reader ... But as the activity of programming reveals, neither code nor the deterministic algorithm is created in this way - iteration after iteration the written language shows its influence on the thinking and world of the programmer as much as the code changes with its use.''
Rohrhuber et al, 2005

Life of code
Live code is a time based medium, not a product but a process
Live coders often work outside of the present moment, outside of time
Some live coders return to the moment by playing sounds into their code
... is
a grapheme
a sound
an articulation
an abstract symbol
all of these at once
Symbols
a
Pre-history of live coding
TOPLAP - the Temporary Organisation for the Promotion of Live Algorithm Programming
Structured text
Human-computer language
Describing activity
Programming
Formed in a smoky bar in Hamburg, 2004
United SuperCollider3, ChucK, Max and PureData live coders
Fluxus and Impromptu languages later developed by TOPLAP members
UK event funding from PRSF and ACE

Fluxus tutorial, Dave Griffiths
Pubcode, BBC
Embellishment
Future of Live Coding?
Languages designed for live coding informed by cutting edge computer science and cross-disciplinary research into perception
Spatial and geometric syntax/semantics in programming languages
Live coding as a meeting point for human and computational creative agents

Bavin, 2008
Acid sketching, Alex McLean, 2009
Also known as "Secondary syntax"
Textual
Layout (partially)
Names
Colour
Graph patching
Free layout
Little need for names
Yeeking, ICMC 2008
Extra slow acid, Alex McLean
http://toplap.org/
Questions?
Conclusion
Symbols are abstract, but connect perceptual spaces, in particular the voice and the image
Computation is manipulation of abstract symbols, but is authored as text by embodied humans
The demands of live coding call for symbolic computer languages to be grounded in perception, with new representations of time.
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