A Poly-Temporal Programming Environment for Live Shows and Interactive Installations

In this paper we present Qed, a prototype programming environment for designing and performing temporal scenarios. Such scenarios can be used to trigger cues and control various parameters of live shows and interactive installations, such as audio and video playback, lights, or mechatronics.
Qed features a structure editor operating on a syntax tree that intermingles textual tokens and graphical user interface elements. This allows specifying scenarios algorithmically using a domain specific language, while expressing continuous time transformations with graphical curves.
Qed uses an imperative synchronous language to express concurrent poly-temporal scenarios. Scenarios are compiled on-the-fly into a bytecode that is run by a virtual machine. A temporal scheduler organizes the execution of concurrent parts of that bytecode along multiple abstract time axis, mapping abstract dates and delays of the program onto real time using a differential equation solver.
The virtual machine feeds back execution information to the structure editor, which reflects that information by highlighting executed statements or displaying progress wheels and status icons directly in the code. This allows an operator to easily monitor and pace the progression of the scenario.