polyrhythmic_primes.py

# Polyrhythmic Prime Discovery
# by Leonard Ritter <[email protected]>

primes = []
phases = []

counter = 2

def is_any_phase_zero ():
    for phase in phases:
        if phase == 0:
            return True
    return False

def advance_phases ():
    i = 0
    primecount = len(primes)
    while (i < primecount):
        # increase each phase in the modspace of its prime
        # we're explicitly not using % here to show
        # how simple this mechanism is.
        x = phases[i]
        x += 1
        if x == primes[i]:
            x = 0
        phases[i] = x
        i = i + 1

while True:
    if not is_any_phase_zero():
        # no phase is zero, we are off-beat
        # therefore, we found a new prime
        # print it
        print counter
        # and append to list of rhythms to track
        primes.append(counter)
        phases.append(0)
    advance_phases()
    counter += 1