Music Compiler: An Exercise in the Use of Coroutines

Presenter Information

Samuel Crow, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 202

Start Date

23-4-2007 3:00 PM

End Date

23-4-2007 5:00 PM

Student's Major

Computer Information Science

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Leon Tietz

Mentor's Department

Computer Information Science

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Conventional music players typically use either interpreters or streamed sound samples. This project presents an alternative to these by compiling a Protracker music file into a stand-alone binary program. The first goal was to create a program that is smaller than a music file that uses a statically-linked interpreter. A secondary goal was to require less overhead than an interpreter or a streamed audio file. The technique of music playback used here is based on coroutines. One coroutine is used for the main music score and additional coroutines are used to perform time indexed special effects for each of the voices. Both the programming language used to implement this compiler and the language of the programs it generates are ANSIC 1989.