IMUSIC: Programming Non-Music Applications with Music

This paper discusses the implementation of 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 or rhythms. MUSIC is not focused on musicprogramming per se, but on general programming. It 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. During implementation MUSIC evolved into IMUSIC (Interactive MUSIC) which has its own Audio User Interface (AUI) in which the program structure is continuously represented by layers algorithmically generated tunes. This leads to the programmer almost ‘jamming’ with the computer to write the code. Although in itself fairly simplistic, IMUSIC could introduce a new paradigm for increasing the subjective experience of productivity, increasing flow in programming in general. In this paper the system is demonstrated using live Bongo drums: with two pieces of example code, whose live entry and execution are provided online as videos.