hello, world (2020)

Performance by Tom Pickles @ Samuel Worth Chapel, Sheffield - 25.2.2

This piece is based on a famously simple computer program, which displays the message hello, world!, normally used to illustrate the basic syntax of a programming language, and often the first program written by a computer programming beginner. Specifically, this piece is based on the first known incarnation of that program, written by Brian Kernighan:

 main() {
  extern a, b, c;
  putchar(a); putchar(b); putchar(c); putchar('!*n');
 }

 a 'hell';
 b 'o, w';
 c 'orld';

The structure is taken from the binary numbers that produce the variables 'a', 'b', and 'c', which combined with the harmonic sequence that underpins the music, produces a binary musical texture.