Live coding is about people interacting with the world, and each other, in real time, via code. For me, as someone with a background in psychology and neuroscience, it feels like it parallels the brain’s plasticity or its ability to form new synapses and connections, wiring together to create our cognition, memories, and sense of self. The dynamic, and constantly changing nature of the brain feels reflected in live coding, where code evolves in real-time, alive with spontaneity and creativity.

A lot like the brain’s electrical impulses that drive thought and emotion, live coding transforms raw computational processes into something expressive and organic. Each line of code creates new unlimited possibilities, creating a digital system that grows and adapts, much like our neural pathways. It’s a unique opportunity to bring the natural elements like irregularity, rhythm, and flow into the digital space, to create immersive experiences that reflect the essence of life.

For me, live coding feels like an extension of the mind, where creativity and aliveness spill into the machine and it bridges the gap between the mechanical and the human, allowing us to reintroduce spontaneity and connection into the digital world. It is a reminder that life really is about creativity, dynamic creation, adaptation and just having fun with this process.

As a computer science student and a DJ, I find live coding to be very intriguing because it will enable me to do something creative around my passion for electronic music with code – something that is typically never used in creative fields like music production.

Live coding allows anyone to see and understand the process of creating music through code. Unlike traditional DJing, where music is often mixed from pre-recorded tracks, live coding enables real-time composition, making each performance unique and dynamic. This improvisatory nature mirrors the spontaneity of live music while using the precision and power of programming.

What appeals to me the most is the deeply human aspect of all this. The algorave scene, where people come together to dance to music generated in real time through live coding, is a perfect example of how tech can serve us rather than the other way around. It’s not just about writing code—it’s about using that code to create shared experiences, to bring people together, and to foster a sense of connection. Seeing live coding facilitate something communal through algoraves, subreddits, and GitHub pages reinforces the idea that code isn’t just about logic, structure, and money. It can also be a powerful tool for expression, emotion, and collective joy.

“To define something is to stake a claim to its future, to make a claim about what it should be or become,” said David Ogborn.

Viewing live coding as a performance rather than merely a code display, defining it too strictly could limit its creative potential. Imposing rules or confining them within a strict definition might restrict the freedom and diversity coexisting in live coding. In the creative field, as projects take on different forms and styles, I believe that leaving “live coding” undefined allows for more possibilities to emerge and evolve in real-time, during live performances.

That said, my own interpretation of live coding is that it is a space where code is alive and constantly evolving. The code transformation can grow or end, and the performance can be a solo performance or an interactive experience with the audience. It is “alive” in the sense that it changes dynamically before the audience’s eyes, but it is also static in a way, like a painting, where the computer is the canvas, and each line of code is a brushstroke. This dual nature makes live coding an exciting side of art for both developers and audiences, shaping it into a unique live performance and an artistic experience.

The concept of “liveness” in live coding, as discussed in the article, offers a chance for me to rethink what it means to live: “to have bodies, to communicate, to act.” By blending the real-time creativity, improvisation, and certain kinds of performance, live coding challenges conventional notions of both coding and human-computer interaction. It encourages us to think beyond code itself. What we need to emphasize are the human thoughts and contexts that are included while performing.

Live coding uniquely frames coding as a public performance, where the audience witnesses both the creative process and its immediate output. Unlike traditional programming, which often happens behind closed doors, live coding reveals the coder’s thought process, mistakes, and decisions in real time. This openness highlights the coder’s humanity and makes it different from the polishness that is featured in a written program. That is why live coding is an act of communication not only with the machine but also with the audience.

Live coding also makes me think differently about what it means to be “live” in today’s digital world. By showing coding as it happens, live coding pushes back against this invisibility and invites people to actively participate, even if they’re just watching. It reminds me that being “live” is about being present, involved, and taking action—an important idea in a time when digital interactions often focus more on efficiency than real connection.

I spent a lot my time in New York City hanging around Washington Square Park between study breaks from Bobst. One of my most memorable encounters was with a jean skirt-wearing Jewish fella who liked to dance and spoke about how they believed their dead grandmother still lived in their hands. I think they danced because of this idea––that they were, in a way, facilitating communication between their grandmother and the audience through their living body. I commented on how this form of person-to-person interaction was more important than ever in our time of image saturation. Today, between the Internet and social media, we are constantly inundated by what I call “dead” material, or, material that has left the alive, breathing body into fixed positions, such as poetry that has been written down, or photographs. While these mediums are beautiful and important, the links between living things to other living things have been increasingly replaced with various methods of digital pseudo-connection, which could help explain the loneliness epidemic. The true poem is the one that Walt Whitman was constantly rewriting and sharing from his heart. I believe in tangible communication. I believe in dance.

That is why I believe in live coding. I signed up for this class in order to use computers towards this end. I really resonated with the idea that “we do not use computers; they use us…” All we have to do is look at how dependent we are on our phones to realize that we might be the ones being used. But computer manipulation is a way of responding back; of admitting awareness in this current technological landscape, and saying it takes two to tango––I am going to shape you just as you shape me. Within the confines of capitalism and production, most technology is used to manipulate and exploit, but within the framework of this class, I am really excited to collaborate with technology and engage in it as a means of physical, living communication. Get out of the DMs and into the techno raves! I say. One last thing I wanted to mention was the notion of “Being a User,” which entails acknowledging that there “there is, whether visible or not, a computer, a programmed system that you use.” All of us live within inherited systems and ideologies that perpetuate a lot of destruction and suffering. Whether we realize it or not, these ideologies form our thoughts, dreams, jokes, and very realities, and it is our responsibility as thinking, alive humans to question and challenge these often-invisible frameworks so that the world can actually start to change for the better.

To be a User is to be alive. Becoming a live coder means becoming an active participant in and hopefully challenger against whatever systems you find yourself in. It means observing with intent and responding real-time. This reading inspired me to keep this philosophical groundwork in the back of my head as we all start to exercise this practice.

What is live coding?

It’s safe to say that any programmer would agree—coding in front of an audience is incredibly challenging. It’s inevitable that one misses some semicolons, or misspells functions leading to bugs. My first thought when I heard about live coding was “That sounds insane”. The thought of facing an audience and writing code in real time felt daunting. I didn’t mind the whole improvisation thing, because I’ve done it before as a musician. However, unlike playing an instrument, where mistakes can sometimes blend into the performance, coding errors are glaringly obvious. On the other hand, unlike other kinds of performances, Live Coding allows performers to create something insanely cool from something as boring and abstract as code.

Displaying the code on the screen during the performance fosters a deeper connection between the performer and their audience. Without the visibility of the code, audiences can question the authenticity of the improvisation. They might think the performers are just triggering pre-prepared tracks. But by removing that barrier, the performer transforms the experience from a mere spectacle to an interactive, shared journey. In my opinion, the coolest thing about the show is not the visuals or audio but witnessing how performers converse with the machine in real time. Live coding not only spotlights the abstract interaction with the machine, but also opens up the conversation on what kinds of art and creative self expression is possible using the rawest forms of technology. Which is actually kind of insane.

To define something is to stake a claim to its future, to make a claim about what it should be or become. This makes me hesitate to define live coding.

This quote caught my eye as soon as I started reading the text, it resonated with me because I think it captures the fluid and dynamic nature of live coding. It is fascinating to see live coding not just as a technical practice but as an artistic/creative approach that challenges programming norms. Before this class, I associated the phrase “live coding” with writing efficient code in real time for some work related things. However, now I think of it as an improv performance, something similar to rap freestyles, thus making me rethink the rigid perception of programming.

I found it kind of intriguing how live coding embraces transparency, exposing the thought process behind the code and allowing the audience to witness the creative journey in real time. Of course it comes with some extra pressure on the programmer/artist because everything needs to be done live and mistakes can make the performance a bit awkward. This visibility challenges the traditional black-box approach in tech, where software operates behind the scenes.

Live coding changed the notion of coding for me, now I see coding as an entity that adapts and evolves with me as a potential performer. The more I practice, the more I would be able to create and express via coding. It is safe to say that I started to appreciate coding not just like a tool but as a medium of self-expression.