In live coding, each code change affects the running output immediately

A defining trait of live-coding environments (Glicol, TidalCycles, SuperCollider, Hydra) is that edits are evaluated and heard immediately — ‘small code changes immediately affect the output’ — with no separate compile, render, or export step. This tight feedback loop collapses the gap between composing and performing: a change is both an experiment (try, hear, adjust) and, on a running stream, a live musical gesture. It is what makes a text-based tool usable as an instrument. Glicol’s browser-based design extends that immediacy to first use, with no install or setup between writing a line and hearing it.

Examples

Editing a filter-cutoff value in a running Glicol patch takes effect on the live audio stream at once; in TidalCycles a re-evaluated pattern takes effect at the next cycle boundary rather than being rendered offline.

Assessment

Explain what ‘immediate feedback’ means in live coding and how it differs from tweaking an automation parameter in a DAW, and state what that immediacy enables for performance that deferred rendering does not.