Did you ever stick a data disc into the computer and try to play it through the speakers as audio? Some friends and co-workers and I did this 15 years ago with the first CD installer of A/UX (Apple's first shipping *nix product 😉 I recall the kernel was most interesting.
Spouse says:
I enjoyed listening to a "shell sort" on the console speaker of a CDC 3800 (back in 1980 or so).
vuooooooooooooooop. vuoooooop. vuooop. vuop. …
Well, technology progresses and this sort of thing is no longer just fun and games.
A friend recently sent us URLs to two unique (yet oddly similar) products.
The first is CAITLIN.
The CAITLIN system auralises a program so that one is able to hear, through a musical framework, its execution. Our belief is that an audio representation (auditory display) of a program will enable a programmer to recognise patterns and behaviours not otherwise apparent with more traditional visual display techniques.
In other words, CAITLIN turns a program (written in Turbo Pascal) into music. Flawed sections of code play in a minor key.
The principle behind all auditory display research is that we can use our ears to aid in the processing of information while our eyes attend to other tasks. Our musical program auralisation approach is predicated on the following principles:
- Information heard is processed by our brains very differently from information that we see
- Whilst precise quantitative data cannot easily be communicated with non-speech sound (e.g. the value of an integer variable), qualitative aspects (e.g. a variable has increase in value) and structural form can be.
- Melodies aid the memorability of the system and avoid the complex atonality used my most auralisation projects.
I wonder how Perl would sound…
The second product also produces a musical "display" but for … stock traders?!
The Accentus Auditory Display enables traders to use their eyes and ears to tune into the market.
…
Accentus harnesses auditory cognition to monitor data in the background with music-based sound, allowing you to reallocate visual bandwidth to more visually-oriented tasks, such as news or analysis.
Try the online demo.
I wonder what's next… audible Google search results? 🙂
Slightly Off KIlter 