Unconventional Computation and Teaching: Proposal for MUSIC, a Tone-Based Scripting Language for Accessibility, Computation and Education

This paper provides a proposal for a tone-based programming/scripting language called MUSIC (the name is an acronym for Music-Utilizing Script Input Code). In a MUSIC program input and output consists entirely of musical tones. Computation can be done through musical transformations of notes and melodies. MUSIC can be used for teaching the basics of script-based programming, computer-aided composition, and provided programming access to those with limitations in sight or physical accessibility. As a result of MUSIC’s approach to tone-based programming and computation, it also allows for a development environment that utilizes computer expressive performance for highlighting structure, and emotional transformation to highlight bugs.