Date of Award
2022
First Advisor
David Myers
Abstract
The name of the proposed language is “C♭”. The C♭ language is designed to enable ease in musical composition and audio synthesis as though via a piano keyboard — directly from a computer keyboard. C♭ is not a general-purpose programming language; this language falls under the category of computer music languages. However, the C♭ coding experience is engineered to be intuitive for users with a broad range of music theory knowledge, and transferable knowledge from having programmed in other well-known computer languages. Favoring both flexibility and readability, C♭ is a programming language that can be as musically powerful and technically efficient as the coder and composer themself. Upon compilation, every C♭ program generates a MIDI file that can be played and replayed, with increasingly complicated musical features of the user’s choosing. A considerable portion of this thesis has been constructed to read much like an official language reference manual — for the curiously motivated future-user of this niche language, perhaps after having stumbled upon it on Github, as one does. However, chapter 3 (“Language Manual”), also provides great insights into the ways C♭’s creative problems required creative solutions. Subsequent chapters explain many technical details regarding the overall architecture and project plan.
Recommended Citation
Cho, Isabella, "(: C♭ :)" (2022). Senior Theses. 1578.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/sr-theses/1578
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