Course in ChucK

[Stochastic]

Hi, I'm new here. I'm a music student finishing my undergrad in composition at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and ever since NIME '05 (I was one of the techs for the concerts) I've been extremely interested in ChucK. I've been lurking on lists and fiddling with code but not really diving in as I haven't had the time. So now I've decided I need to make time for it as my ChucK itch just hasn't been scratched.

I'm trying to get a Directed Study in ChucK going so that I can dedicate time to learning ChucK without neglecting my coursework. But the problem is that none of my professors know ChucK (a couple know of it - but that's as far as it goes) so it's difficult for them to teach me anything. Basically what this means is that I need to prove to them I can direct myself and maybe even my profs though a senior level course in ChucK. I think this is doable, but I'm not 100% sure.

So what I'm asking here for is any direction, or words of wisdom, or sample course outlines on ChucK. What major issues should a course in ChucK focus on? What outcomes should the course achieve? Should I be able to demonstrate an ability to do a livecode set by the end of the term? Should I have a Computer Science prof onboard and not just a music prof?

I do have some ideas in my head, but I wanted to hear from those who know the language better to help me solidify things. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

[soundcyst]

I'm a student in Computer Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and I've been thinking of a similar thing.

I don't really know what I'd put in the curriculum yet either, but having a Computer Science professor on board seems essential to me.

Of course, my ideal course in ChucK would go into the architecture of the language itself as well as how to use it.

From a music composition perspective, a concert at the end of the term seems appropriate.

I'm curious to hear the ideas in your head. =)

[Inventor]

What a refreshing post, a message from a scholar indeed! As to can you do it, learn enough ChucK to produce some good songs in that time frame, I'd definitely say yes. I started in mid-October and now I have a collection of goodies, plus one really fun interactive application. That would be about four months of part-time ChucKing.

I'd have a Computer Science professor on board also, as ChucK is a programming language after all. You'll find most of the modern language features done in ChucK. Part of your evaluation of whether you can learn the language quickly - how many languages have you worked with? ChucK is super-easy to learn if you are just using concepts that you already understand rather than if this is your first programming experience.

For a course outline, I would turn to the table of contents on the chuck documentation page. You could pace your study of the language according to the table of contents, plus add in lots of lab time for running other people's .ck programs, modifying them, and finally writing your own from scratch.

Also, make sure to note and perhaps mention to your professors that you have found this forum, where lots of folks can *usually* help you out when you get stuck. This will keep you moving forward when you run into the inevitable brick walls.

So welcome aboard and have fun with ChucK!

[Kassen]

One place to find inspiration could be the WiKi. On the WiKi you can read the Plork assignments and other notes on classes taught by ChucK's creators.

I'd say a decent benchmark at the end of the course could be the design and implementation of a instrument based around a (set of) controllers (MiDi, gamecontrollers, OSC, etc). If it were my course I'd also ask for a text explaining why the student made the instrument he did, what problem it solved or new options it offered. I'd ask for that because programming is about more then just syntax.

I'm not sure a computer science professor is absolutely necessary (depending on the focus of the course), a motivated and clever student could probably get by with the examples, the manual and wikipedia (as well as a few posts here&there....). Classes and name-space can be tricky but in ChucK those are tricky in a very "ChucKian" way... so if you want a CS professor you'd likely need one who speaks ChucK (or risk him bashing his head into a wall)...

I can pritty much guarantee that if you do set out to learn ChucK and stick to it we have a good enough "safety net" on the forum and list that you can go from learning to install it to performing live on a completely original instrument without getting completely stuck for more then a day or two. Of course you might run into a issue with ChucK itself as a system but that could happen even if you're studying under Ge himself.

Oh, and if it were my course I'd give bonus points for finding and documenting bugs. Finding and documenting new bugs means you did something that probably wasn't done before and it helps build community. Those two things are strongly related to making music this way so I'd reward that based on that "fuzzy logic" connection. Then again, nobody is offering me a position as a professor so best to take that with a grain of salt ;¬).