MusicCoder is a musical esoteric programming language inspired by Brainfuck. It is designed as a superset of Brainfuck, making it Turing complete. The source code looks like a monophonic melody, where musical notes and rests represent instructions and memory operations.
- Musical Syntax: Code is written as a sequence of notes and rests.
- Monophonic & Minimal: Uses a single melodic line for logic, emphasizing a clean and minimal design.
Here is a "Hello World" program written as a Flute Solo. You can view and play the sheet music on MuseScore: Hello World! for Flute Solo
This project uses Python>=3.9.
To execute a MusicCoder source file (.mc), use the interpreter:
python interpreter.py <source_file.mc>Example:
python interpreter.py my_hello.mcYou can convert your MusicCoder code into a standard MusicXML file, which can be opened in notation software like MuseScore, Finale, or Sibelius.
python mc2xml.py <source_file.mc> [output.musicxml]If the output file is not specified, it defaults to the same name with a .musicxml extension.
You can also write your code in a music notation program, export it as MusicXML, and convert it back to MusicCoder source code.
python xml2mc.py <input_file.musicxml>For a detailed guide on the syntax, memory model, and instruction set, please refer to the Language Specification.
There are other esoteric programming languages that use music as code. One notable example is Velato, which uses MIDI files as source code. In Velato, the pitch of the first note in a measure determines the command, and the intervals between notes determine parameters. Blue++ aims to produce code that sounds like actual music, composed in jazz scale. Prelude and Fugue uses polyphonic music as source code. Other examples include Choon where code is a sequence of notes the output stream itself acts as memory by allowing reference to previously played notes.