Impromptu (programming environment): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:25, 25 June 2011

Revision as of 07:38, 23 August 2011

Line 2:

{{Infobox programming language

| name = Impromptu

| logo = [[ImageFile:Splash smaller.jpg]]

| caption =

| file_ext =

| paradigm = [[Functionalfunctional programming|Functional]], [[Multimulti-paradigm programming language|multi-paradigm]]

| year = {{Start date and age|2005}}

| designer = Andrew Sorensen

| developer =

| latest_release_version = 2.5

| latest_release_date = <!-- {{Start date and age|2011|mm|dd}} -->

| latest_test_version =

| latest_test_date =

| typing = [[Dynamicdynamic typing|Dynamic]] & [[Staticstatic typing|static]]

| implementations =

| dialects =

Line 20:

| operating_system = [[Mac OS X]]

| license =

| website = http://{{URL|impromptu.moso.com.au/}}

| wikibooks =

}}

'''Impromptu''' is a [[Mac OS X]] [[Computercomputer program|programming]] environment for [[live coding]]. Impromptu is built around the [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]] language, which is a member of the [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] family of languages. The source code of its core has been opened as the Extempore project.<ref name="extempore_github" />

== Description ==

Line 30:

The environment allows to make changes to a program at [[runtime]], so variables and functions may be redifined and the changes take effect immediately. A programmer can also create and schedule code for future execution, as well as data events such as notes and graphics objects. Once an event is scheduled, execution continues. Looping is performed by using an idiom called "temporal recursion" which works by having a function asynchronously schedule a future call to itself as its final action.

The library allows to communicatecommunicating with [[Audio Units]] for audio synthesis, and towith graphics layers such as [[QuickTime]], [[Quartz (graphics layer)|Quartz]], [[Core Image]], [[OpenGL]] for [[video composition]]. Code written in [[Objective-C]] can be called from the editor, and also Objective-C frameworks can perform calls to the Scheme interpreter.

Impromptu's Scheme interpreter was initially built from the [[TinyScheme]] 1.35 baseline, but it has been substantially modified since to better suit the live coding context. A real-time [[Garbage_collection_garbage collection (computer_sciencecomputer science)| real-time garbage collector]], and [[Objective -C]] integration were added. FurthermoreAlso, a new statically typed language called the ''Extempore Language'' has been integrated to the system. This language is syntactically Scheme-like, but semantically closer to C, and is designed for real-time sound synthesis and other computationally heavy tasks. It provides [[type inference]] and is compiled to [[machine language]] by [[LLVM]].

== Sample Performanceperformance ==

''A Study in Keith'' is a live coding performance in Impromptu by Andrew Sorensen. The first two minutes (1:56) are silent, while the performer writes the program that will produce the introduction of the piece. From then on, he modifies the code on the fly in order to evolve the composition.

[[ImageFile:Study_in_keithStudy in keith.ogv|alt=A Study in Keith: a live coding performance in Impromptu by Andrew Sorensen]]

== Extempore ==

The core of Impromptu has been released as ''Extempore'' <ref name="extempore_github">{{cite web

| url = https://github.com/digego/extempore

| title = The ''Extempore'' page on GitHub.

Line 49:

==External links==

* http://{{Official website|impromptu.moso.com.au/ - Impromptu home page}}

* http://improgramming.wordpress.com/ - a blog about Impromptu by [http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/thm21/ Thor Magnusson]

* http://vimeo.com/impromptu/videos/sort:plays - Live performances by Andrew Sorensen.

Line 56:

* [[Comparison of audio synthesis environments]]

* [[SuperCollider]]

* [[Processing (programming language)|Processing]]

* [[OpenFrameworks]]

* [[NodeBox]]

Line 74:

* Sorensen, A & Brown, A (2008) "[http://impromptu.moso.com.au/extras/acmc08_orchestral.pdf A Computational Model For The Generation Of Orchestral Music In The Germanic Symphonic Tradition: A progress report]" paper presented to the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008, Sydney

* Sorensen, A & Brown, A (2007) "[http://impromptu.moso.com.au/extras/aa-cell-icmc07.pdf aa-cell in Practice: An Approach to Musical Live Coding]" paper presented to the International Computer Music Conference 2007, Copenhagen

* Sorensen, A. (2005) "[http://impromptu.moso.com.au/extras/sorensen_acmc_05.pdf Impromptu: An interactive programming environment for composition and performance]" a paper presented to the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2005, Brisbane: ACMA, pp. 149–153. (NOTENote: Impromptu version discussed is obsolete)

* Sorensen, A. "[http://impromptu.moso.com.au/extras/ICR.html ICR - Impromptu Compiler Runtime]"

* Thor Magnusson, "Confessions of a Live Coder", Proceedings of International Computer Music Conference, 2011.{{Verify source|date=June 2011}}