Sam Aaron

Sonic Pi Creator

Described by Rolling Stone magazine as “transcending the present”, Sam Aaron is an internationally renowned live coding artist with over 15 years of experience performing with code.

Sam’s main instrument is Sonic Pi free software he created initially as his postdoc research project at the University of Cambridge and now as a full-time independent open source developer. Sonic Pi has been used by millions of people worldwide and has a growing active user base of professional live coding musicians and educators using it to engage the next generation of coders in schools.

Sam’s performances have featured in the Royal Albert Hall, Berlin Warehouses, arts venues such as ZKM Karlsruhe, International Music Festivals, on the BBC, and even school assemblies.

Talk:
Keynote: Introducing Tau5 - A New BEAM-Powered Live Coding Platform

12 years ago, Sam started the Sonic Pi project - a free code-based music creation and performance tool that targets both education and professional musicians. Using Sonic Pi it is possible for beginners to code fresh beats, driving bass lines and shimmering synth riffs. All this whilst teaching core computer science concepts such as sequencing, functions, variables, loops, data structures and algorithms.

The Sonic Pi language is implemented in Ruby and includes a sophisticated bespoke threading system that turned out to be an ad-hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of OTP.

What would it be like to rewrite Sonic Pi using BEAM technologies as the foundation? This talk introduces exactly this - welcome to Tau5 a new BEAM-powered live coding system for education, art and human expression.

Get ready for some serious live coded beats, visuals and a window into an exciting future of computing education.

TALK OBJECTIVES:

  • This talk aims to discuss the importance of engaging the whole of society in Computer Science - not just professional programmers. It will also introduce and demonstrate the deep technical design necessary to make complex concepts such as concurrency simple to use and teach. Ultimately it aims to get the audience excited about programming as a means of expression - not just a tool for business.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

  • Everyone that codes and especially those that don’t (yet).