As livecoders, there is rarely a single definition that adequately defines who we are. Nonetheless in this article I will attempt to give some concrete pointers as to who we see ourselves as, or at least how we'd like to be seen.

Origins of “Live Coding”

In order to give a proper definition of what a livecoder is, one must look back into history of what live-coding is. Because up to that point, there wasn't such a thing called a “live coding DJ” etc.

But one research paper published in 1996, seems to be one of the earliest accounts of invention of “live coding”.

SuperCollider, a New Real Time Synthesis Language by James McCartney

This research paper originally published in 1996 by the International Computer Music Association (ICMA).

While there is no mention of the terms “live” or “code”, the fact that SuperCollider is a:

“…built-in programming language with real time incremental garbage collection, first class functions/closures, a small object-oriented class system…”

and that

“…the user can write both the synthesis and compositional algorithms for their place in the same high level language.”

implies that it may affect sound signal outputs live in real time based on user changes.

In addition, programming concepts like first class functions/closures and object-oriented class system sound a lot like modern ES6 (or JavaScript for a lack of better word), which I think is no coincidence during the first iterations of creating such live-coding programming language.

The Algorave Era (circa 2011)

While such “live-coding” tools already exist in the 90s era, the term did not become popular until around the same time the term “algorave” became popularized by Nick Collins and Alex Mclean in the UK during 2011. (Please see a recent clarification by Alex in the footnotes →1)

Because they were commonly referred to as “live coders”2, the act of performing in an algorave scene became the act of “live coding”, for the lack of better term. Traditionally, the term “live coding” is used in a programming context such that code is evaluated live within a REPL (Read Eval Print Loop, but later adopted in livecoding as “Read Eval PLAY Loop” which is also technically correct3) program such that resulting output of the program may be immediately printed on the console (or the program's GUI). The term is more commonly used to describe programming interviews for software engineering roles where candidates must live code to solve an algorithmic challenge. The same is being used in educational context for live-coding assessments.

In fact I have first-hand experience in both such that I am very familiar with the concept. However, livecoding musical patterns or for algorave purposes was relatively new to me until late 2025, where I came across Switch Angel's stream on Instagram where she refers to as “live-coding”.

So… who are we, really?

In order to answer this question, we must look at all levels of livecoders within these groups:

1. People who has made a successful career out of livecoding

2. People who have a good set of livecoding skills, but are still refining their art and continously improving their craft, through experimenting music using such techniques and producing live performance sets

3. Educators who teach algorithmic visual art or conduct livecoding workshops

4. Newcomers who are dabbling with livecoding, including graduate students studying visual arts course and professional musicians

Based on these groups, we may conclude that a livecoder is either a student, educator or a professional artist who uses livecoding as a vehicle of learning, teaching and performing in music or arts, or uses such tools to produce a tangible product such as a music track or curriculum.

While these definitions are technically accurate, I think they miss the point - at its core, I think we as livecoders would like to see ourselves as not only creatives, but as community leaders or even advocates. Let me explain.

How I see myself and the livecoding community

My experience of livecoding is deeply personal. And while not every livecoder will share the same experiences nor similar values as myself, I can confidently say that, without livecoding communities there cannot exist livecoders.

My successes so far have come from my communities: obtaining my first microgrant to host workshops, releasing my reboot music album after 5 years, performing my first live algorave set, and the best of all, making meaningful connections and forming deep friendships.

None of these would have happened without strong communities with leaders supporting newcomers like myself since late last year, while providing opportunities for members to support each other vice versa.

Making music is hard, hosting a workshop is hard, and then landing and producing a 30-minute live set is even harder. Not a lot of successful artists openly talk about their beginning struggles, not because they don't have them, but talking about failures and disappointment is probably not a culturally popular thing, especially in hypercapitalistic societies like in the U.S. and U.K.

Livecoding as a community practice

But I want to change that and to start embracing these difficult stories more often, and one of my efforts to address this is to host podcast episodes inviting livecoders to come as guest speakers (more on that later, so please stay tuned!)

Because at the height of my 7-year career as a professional software engineer, I have completely abandoned the notion of community. Thinking that I, could achieve all the material success I want without anyone else. Certainly there were financial rewards, a lot of it. But none of it actually brought me closer to who I am, who do I want to be other than just this empty shell carrying a ‘senior software engineer’ title.

But why do I say this? Because if we don't examine and learn from the same problems exist in software-related career then we are bound to repeat the same mistake in livecoding and algorave as well: abandoning communities for the sake of material success.

Let us define and then redefine who we are

As livecoders we have a duty to, not only lead and support others who are new to this space, but we must also protect ourselves from potentially our souls being sucked dry by capitalism.

I see this happening too much in my previous career, as my peers had to go on sick leave due to, quite literally burnout, or quit altogether; I also had my own share of grievances as well that I will explore in another time; but this is really about the future of livecoders and livecoding I am talking about right now, as I do not wish to have same fate happen to us, turned into mindless corporate slaves in service of hypercapitalism.

Hence as communities we must define and redefine what livecoding is, who we are, and what do we stand for. I am not only speaking out of fear but also out of love.

Final Thoughts

The livecoding communities (both organizations and individual livecoder communities) have given me so much, and in fact have been part of the journey of my search towards who do I want to be: an artist, an educator, an advocate.

And so naturally I want to give back. Not only that I want to help preserve and protect the best parts of these communities: a welcoming safe space for all, a hub for open calls and opportunities and a place where new friendships can be found.

Finally, I'd like to say these words to summarize who I am as a livecoder:

I am a livecoder and therefore I care about bringing inclusivity and creating opportunities to the table, in relation to various forms of art and genre, audio or visual alike. But also, “oh fuck off A.I. music, shall we?”

Footnotes