The development of programming languages often comes with some mystique for those unfamiliar with the practice. In the domain of creative coding, there are a number of associated challenges that can make it daunting:

1. The development of the grammar and parser
2. Tying the language to control of audiovisual elements
3. Creating an environment to deploy the language

In this talk I will discuss tools developed in my lab and in collaboration with other researchers to help demystify this process and make it more accessible to non-expert programmers. I will then show two new languages for live audiovisual performance that I developed using similar concepts and tools. The first is *Screamer*, a graphical language for creating generative visuals in the style of graphics from the demoscene cultural movement. The second is *Mutter*, a musical language for exploring temporal recursions and granular synthesis.

Charlie Roberts is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where his research focuses on human-computer interaction in digital arts practice. The open-source systems he designs have been used in courses at dozens of universities around the world, including MIT, Princeton, and Australian National University, and he has performed with them in concerts throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.