Learn
Basic familiarity with programming concepts in bell, such as variables, function calls, and loops, is assumed. If you're new to the bell language or programming in general, work through the bell tutorials first before proceeding.
The following bellplay~ tutorials and examples are designed to be plug-and-play learning and demonstration materials. To get the most out of them, you should:
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Run the code: Each tutorial and example contains code snippets that can be copied with a single click and pasted into your text editor—preferrably Visual Studio Code. Run the code in bellplay~ to generate and hear the results.
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Study the code: After running a script, spend some time studying it:
- Trace the sequence of operations, such as buffer generation, transcription, and rendering.
- Identify the functions being used and their parameters.
- Note how buffers are created, processed, and placed on the timeline.
- Observe the relationship between code structure and output.
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Read the docs: For each function encountered, consult its individual reference page. The function-specific documentation provides:
- Description of what they do.
- A detailed list of available arguments, default values, expected data types, and return value.
- Basic usage examples.
Understanding each function's documentation is critical for going beyond what these tutorials and examples offer.
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Experiment: Modify the original scripts to test your understanding and explore possibilities:
- Change parameter values and run the code to hear the differences.
- Combine techniques and concepts from previous tutorials and examples.
- Intentionally introduce errors to understand failure modes and error messages.
Active experimentation is when the actual learning occurs. These materials provide a starting point, but proficiency requires hands-on exploration.