This algorithm is a simple one and can be easily translated into computer code. This is a defining quality of algorithms and is due to their stepwise and logical nature. Algorithms can be applied to any aspect of music such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, or any combination of these characteristics. .
With the advent of computers came the use of the computer in algorithmic composition. The first use was by Lejaren Hiller and Loren Issacson who used a computer to compose a four-movement suite called the Illiac Suite. The main technique used throughout the suite is a technique called "generate and test". This involves generating a random value and testing it according to predefined constraints. In the first movement of the Illiac Suite, the random values generated were tested according to the rules of sixteenth century counterpoint as described by Fux in Gradus ad Parnassum. These rules included familiar rules of contrapuntal writing such as no parallel fifths or octaves, no large leaps, and only consonant intervals. The output was written in code and then transcribed for string quartet. Although most of the work used similar "generate and test" techniques, they were tested according to different stylistic constraints (Dodge, Jerse, 292).
Other types of algorithmic computer composition include grammar, chaotic, and artificial intelligence. The type grammar makes use of research done in the structure of language. The similarities between music and language are many. Both use small structures that convey meaning on a minute level and also on a larger scope. Notes can be related to letters, motifs to words, phrases to sentences, and periods to paragraphs. Certain types of phrases seem to logically follow other types of phrases just as answers follow questions. Based on this model, music is composed and arranged sequentially. An example of a program that uses this method is the EMI program by David Cope.