Live coding is a community of practice, organised since c.2000 around TOPLAP

Live coding is not an isolated act but a vibrant community of practice. McLean recounts that around the year 2000 many people independently converged on the idea of using code live in the performing arts, found each other, and formed an organisation - TOPLAP, the (Temporary) Organisation for the Promotion of Live Algorithm Programming. Knowing the field is community-organised matters for a learner: the culture, shared tools (like TidalCycles), and events (algoraves) grow out of this network rather than from any single company or product, and newcomers are expected to plug into it.

Examples

A learner searching ‘TOPLAP’ finds the manifesto, a directory of live-coding systems, and links to communities and algorave events worldwide.

Assessment

State roughly when the live-coding community coalesced and name the organisation it formed; explain what ‘community of practice’ implies for how the tools and scene developed.