So recently I’ve stumbled upon a video, where a guy creates an animation by programming it with maanim.
And after that I also found a way to create music with programming too.
So I’m wondering… What else can you actually create using programming? Besides the obvious software, VR, AR and all that
My back hurts typing this, but… back when I was young there was a whole community called the “scene” to explore just that question. The demoscene is still alive, but it’s perhaps a little more mainstream and “clean” than it used to be? Anyway, people are still cranking out awesome demos that explores the question: what can we do with programming? There are tons of YouTube videos of demos, old and new, but here is a video that talks about the scene and the history behind it.
I still visit https://www.pouet.net/ to watch some the insane achievements.
Like this 8-byte demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A-XJjnU5Oo
I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl…
It’s too much of an open question. Like asking what can you make with steel, or stone.
The only real limits are the hardware and your imagination.
I like to reply to overly open questions with: “How long is a string?”
Shader Editor on Android, I write my own live wallpapers right on my phone!
Anything you can imagine really, the only thing holding people back is often time and effort.
I don’t think I understand the question, or rather what you want for an answer.
Programming has created everything you can do on or with a computer, which includes devices like watches, phones, TVs, video games and consoles, coffee makers (apparently), and even light bulbs; just to name a very small amount of computer devices.
Hell, someone has even ported Doom to bacteria.
I think the better question is what can’t you do with programming?
Is there for example a programming language for editing videos or creating 3d models?
Everyone has said Openscad because it’s cool but Blender also has a python API fyi!
C, C++, Java, Rust, and likely hundreds of others. But if you’re interested in editing videos and creating 3D models, then likely you’re not looking for a language, but an existing software like After Effects, Blender, or any CAD (computer-aided design) software; unless you want to write your own software to do video editing and 3D modeling, but that’s not what you said. But if that is the case, you may want to start smaller and work your way up.
Arguably, when you’re learning 3D graphics programming with APIs such as OpenGL or Vulkan you are programming 3D models
This is the correct answer.
Anything a computer is doing, the software that does it is doing that because someone(s) programmed it.
You’re not looking for a programming language specific to a task; those exist, of course, but it’s better to know how systems are programmed, and what APIs are used to program the system you’re interested to control. Choosing which programming language to use should come after knowing what you want the computer system to do.
I think the better answer is what can’t you do with programming yet… For example, fixing a roof can’t be done, but in the future there could be robots programmed to do just that.
You can use imageMagick to create pictures from scratch. As it’s a parameters configuration, and the exemple you gave are frameworks based.
But I prefer create pictures with SVG, it has animation, interaction…, this kind of programmation is more permisive and portable 😂.
PS : to complete the author’s message : Manim
I write sheet music with Lilypond: https://lilypond.org/text-input.html
“AsCode” is so freaking neat to me. Mermaid.js make diagrams as code. Openscad so you can CAD as code. LaTex for making writing mathmatical formulas (and more it’s a very rich mark up language). Reveal.js to make a slideshow as code. Markdown can make some really nice documentation. With tools like Markdeck so you turn that into a slide deck.
The infra as code and config as code (k8s yaml, helm, open tofu, ansible, Guix, nix, etc) are also super powerful but are kind of just tools for computer people. Though some of policyAsCode stuff seems like it can start to blur some interesting lines too, either by putting weird things k8s, or in your ci/cd workflow or by OPA/cedar integrations.
There is also digital twins! Eclipse BaSyx is apparently a growing standard for but that is a neat thing creating really world system models that you can run simulations on but also run real world equipment off of to.
Also apparently (typing this got me interested to see what was new out there!) there is OpenFisca for modeling tax policy as code that can be used to simulate how tax code would effect households! Catala is a “laws as code” DSL for turning legal texts into executable programs. Also smart contracts, and Decentralized Autonomous Orginizations (DAOs) in the crypto space are neat as a tech (ignoring the grifting in the space since they got linked to US investment market).
OpenSCAD is a 3d modeling software that you program instead of manipulating pieces. If you’re trying to create a creature or something organic it’s going to be an utter nightmare. But if you want precise measurements and parameterized models it’s hard to beat.
In the end, programming is commanding a computer system to do your bidding. If your goal is to make electronic metal music, or complex 3d designs, simulate fluid dynamics, or solve for wheel settings on the Enigma machine, those are all programming tasks. Some may involve long runtimes, but the programming is giving the instructions to execute.
Even formulas in Excel are programming. But make no mistake that programming and software engineering are very different tasks: the latter is about devising good designs that balance countervailing interests. Software engineers define the problem which programmers would command onto a computer to find a solution or produce a product.
OpenSCAD and my (crappy) 3-D Printer: a phone case! Whoo!
TeX for documents, posters, presentations,…
I’ve always been amazed by what can be achieved with just shaders.
There are probably better examples for artwork created with shaders, but here are a couple 3d graphics channels I like:
It’s almost anything.
Objects? Python macro into FreeCAD into 3d printer. (Maybe there is a better way? I like having that final 3d editing space to tweak).
Literally any data-> data system. If you have structured data, and something wants structured data? Programmable.
Music is sooo mathematical when you get into it. But the creativity is recognising moving from one math to another, or just throwing math out the window. So yeh, programmable. Making it good? Creative
I hate to say, but LLMs show that some level of human interaction can be maths (it’s all just floating point multiplication). (And I say “interaction”, it’s not intelligent or creative or anything actually human).
If it’s maths, it can be programmed.
Oh yeah, I also know about esoteric languages, but that’s should be it
