Formes

Abstract

It is well known [Winograd79] that the development and use of complex systems was stifled by the inadequacy of ordinary programming languages. Music Composition and Synthesis (MCS) by computer offers an appropriate example of this “complexity barrier”.Object-Oriented programming matches a lot of MCS requirements: an object-oriented programming environment, called Formes, has been developed at IRCAM, including original features like precise control of Time and Hierarchy of events.In this paper the structure and implementation of the system Formes are presented. Particular attention is given to a functional approach of message passing and an extension of the class concept to real-time control structure.Two musical examples and a meta-circular definition of Formes are developed.