In live coding performance, performers create time-based works by programming them while these same works are being executed. The high cognitive load of this practice, along with differing ideas about how it should be addressed, results in a plurality of practices and a number of tensions at play. In this chapter we use a lens of five recurrent tensions to explore these practices, including the balance of stability and risk in performance; the legibility and immediacy of code for audience and performer; the benefits and limits of musical and computational abstractions; the maintenance of flow and pace during performance; and the diversity of conceptions of time, determinacy, and duration that pervade live coding. Addressing these tensions contributes to the unique appeal, challenge, and power of live coding, and provides spaces to develop highly individual and expressive practices.

Gibber is a creative coding environment for the browser designed for live coding performance and education. It emphasizes a simple notation, a strong audio-visual feature set, immediate feedback, and social collaboration. We describe the use of Gibber and its supporting libraries in a variety of educational settings, from work with a summer camp for middle-school girls to university electroacoustic ensembles. We also describe early results designing a new environment, called Braid, for live coding browser-based digital musical instruments (DMIs) that is informed by our teaching experiences.

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