Hi, Sam. thanks for your comment! I will answer from two perspectives here: as a user who has no formal training in programming and as a music teacher.
First, as a musician with no prior background in programming.
I started learning p5.js and some music live coding languages one year ago. What made me turn to computer music was my desire to create experimental and contemporary music on the fly. So, loop is a tool to experiment non-stardand coding for me, like the following patch (I was trying to make Sonic Pi behave more random-y):
use_synth :dsaw
loop do
with_fx :reverb, mix: 0.5, room: 0.65 do
with_fx :ring_mod, amp: 0.75, mix: 1, freq: 110, mod_amp: 1 do
use_random_seed choose(rrand(0, 37129872198732))
8.times do
with_fx :vowel, vowel_sound: rrand_i(1,5) do
play choose(scale(:E2, :karcigar, num_octaves: 4 )), sustain: 0.3 , release: 0.05, cutoff: rrand(60, 120)
sleep 0.25
end
end
end
end
end
My workflow not always progresses towards multiple live_loops, so it’s nice to have the option to code with less characters (as I will explain more in detail). Also, the more I study coding, the more I learn is good to have more ways to code the same things especially when we are prototyping.
As a teacher in Brazil, I have to deal with non-English speakers who mostly will not code on computers to learn live coding. So, we have to think what makes easier to teens with regular mobiles to type fast in a language which is not theirs. I checked the examples at the Lang session and found two examples which, to me, as an experienced musician and adult capable of (some) self-learning, maybe will suffice as models:
live_loop :melody do
play [60, 62, 64, 67].tick
sleep 0.25
end
notes = [60, 64, 67, 72]
amps = [1, 0.5, 0.7, 0.3]
live_loop :multi do
play notes.tick, amp: amps.look
sleep 0.25
end
But I have to think as my students. I put myself in their heads. I imagine myself using their phones. I can see them asking me: “Thiago, ‘tick’ is written with double kk?”. I see they making mistakes with underscores and hifens. So the loop function is really necessary not only to fast prototyping, but also when I take in account technological, linguistic, pedagogical and economic issues which are not being seeing in the countries of global North. It’s not about programming, it’s about being equally accessible over the world. Small screens and keyboards also make it harders to type more and faster. So, to code on mobiles, I suggest: 1) implementing the loop function as it runs on Sonic Pi; or 2) making it availabe as an alias to live_loop, which would also be of great help.
Anyway, I’m really excited to see what’s coming next!