Live coding treats the programming language itself as a real-time musical notation
The foundational idea of live coding is to regard computer languages as notational systems. The performer writes and rewires software live, exposing and editing the internal mechanism of the running system; because the machine interprets the code in real time, every evaluated edit is immediately reflected in the sounding or visual result. Writing code is thus a form of real-time scoring of music, visuals, dance, or robotics. This reframes code from a build-time tool into a live score, and reframes the score from a fixed prescriptive document into something continuously rewritten during performance.
Examples
s("bd*4").fast(2) // evaluate; the loop changes the instant the edit is runEditing and re-evaluating a Strudel/TidalCycles line mid-set so the pattern updates immediately.
Assessment
Explain in what sense live-coded source is a musical score, and contrast it with a fixed staff score by reference to when the notation is written relative to when it sounds.