Reorganizing my vimrc

When I first started using Vim, I used “the ultimate vimrc” as the foundation of my Vim config. I had no idea where to start configuring Vim, and this looked like a good starting point for a nice, batteries-included Vim setup. It comes with a bunch of useful plugins installed and configured out ... (more)

PlantUML turns text into diagrams

A coworker of mine introduced us to PlantUML a year or two ago and we used it to create an architecture diagram of our distributed systems. I revisited that old architecture diagram recently and I ended up making a bunch of tweaks and updates just for fun. The PlantUML language is very intuitiv... (more)

Working with OSC: UDP vs. TCP

If you’ve seen my talk at Strange Loop this year, you may have noticed, during the part where I talked about the future direction of Alda, that we’ll be using OSC to communicate between the client and the player processes. I’ve been spending a lot of my time lately implementing this, and it’s co... (more)

Conjuring Clojure in Vim

Clojure tooling for Vim has been getting more and more interesting over the past few years, especially in the last year or so. When I first came to Clojure, Fireplace was the standard Vim plugin for Clojure development, providing Clojure developers with a great in-editor REPL experience. I thin... (more)

Writing music with Alda #3: flats, sharps, and key signatures

This is the third installment in a series where I guide you through learning how to write music using Alda. So far, we’ve covered: #1: Setup and first notes #2: Rhythm and meter White keys and black keys So far in this series, we’ve been working with 7 notes: C D E F G A B C On a piano... (more)

Writing music with Alda #2: rhythm and meter

This is the second installment in a series where I guide you through learning how to write music using Alda. So far, we’ve covered: #1: Setup and first notes Note lengths Now that we know how to make different notes, we can start to play around with making the notes longer or shorter. Listen... (more)

Writing music with Alda #1: your first notes

Every now and then, somebody tells me that they just installed Alda and they’re enjoying it, but that they aren’t quite sure where to start when it comes to writing a piece of music. The trouble is that Alda is significantly more useful to those of us who already have some knowledge of songwriti... (more)

Minutiae #5: Strange Loop, Mantra & Chronoid

Strange Loop I attended Strange Loop for the third time last weekend, and the experience was as awesome as ever. This year, I had the honor of giving a talk, and I think it went over well! I talked about the history of the architectural design of Alda, and how the relationship between Alda and ... (more)

Minutiae #4: Strange Loop talk, git submodules

Polishing my Strange Loop talk With Strange Loop drawing closer, I’ve been spending most of my free time tweaking and practicing my talk about the dynamic relationship between Alda and Clojure. As I tend to do, I planned way too much material and so I ending up having to trim down the sections... (more)

Minutiae #3: alda-clj lightning demo, weather data, Seven Languages in Seven Weeks

alda-clj lightning demo As I mentioned in my last blog post, I had the pleasure of attending the Heart of Clojure conference in Belgium this month. Somebody suggested that I give a 5-minute lightning talk about Alda, so I signed up at the last minute and (after some hasty preparation) gave a qu... (more)