Juggling notation

It has often been said, of many juggling patterns, that it is "easier done than said", while it might be easy to learn a given manoeuvre and demonstrate it for others, it is often much harder to communicate the idea accurately using speech or plain text.

To get around this problem, various numeric or diagram-based notation systems have been developed. These systems are useful for communicating patterns or tricks between jugglers, as well as for investigating and discovering new patterns.

Diagram-based systems

While diagrams are the most visual and reader-friendly way to notate many juggling patterns, they rely on images, so are complicated to produce and unwieldy to share via text or speech.

* Ladder diagrams - Each rung on the "ladder" represents a point in time (or "beat"). The juggled objects are represented as lines, their paths through time and between a pair of hands.
* Causal diagrams - Similar to the ladder diagram but doesn't show the props held in a juggler's hands. Instead it only shows each "problem" — an incoming prop — and what the juggler should do to make space in his or her hands to catch that incoming prop. It is usually used for club passing and can be displayed or edited in some juggling software.
*Mills Mess State Transition Diagrams - Mills Mess is a popular pattern in which the arms cross and uncross. Mills Mess State Transition Diagrams can be used to track these basic arm movements.

Numeric systems

The following notation systems use only numbers and common characters. The patterns can easily be communicated by text. Most numeric systems are designed to be processed by software juggling simulators — for example, to view juggling patterns as computer animations.

iteswap

Developed in 1985, siteswap is the most common juggling notation by far. In its most basic form, "vanilla siteswap", it is very easy to use, as each pattern is reduced to a simple sequence of digits, such as "3", "97531" or "744". However, vanilla siteswap can notate only the most basic two-handed patterns.

For more slightly more complicated patterns, extra rules and syntax are added to create the following two siteswap extensions:

*"Synchronous Siteswap", or "Synch" Siteswap. This is used to notate patterns where both hands throw at the same time, rather than alternating left and right hands.
*"Multiplex Siteswap". "Multiplex", in the world of juggling, means "more than one ball is in the hand at the time of the throw". Multiplex Siteswap allows you to notate such patterns, and also can be mixed with synchronous siteswap.

Vanilla, synch, and multiplex siteswap are the "standard" forms of siteswap. Not only are they understood by jugglers, there are also many computer programs capable of animating juggling patterns entered in siteswap notation.

Other extensions to siteswap have been developed for specific purposes. These are far less common than the "standard" forms of siteswap, understood by far fewer jugglers and only specialized software.

*Passing siteswap - used for simple passing patterns.
*Multi-Hand Notation (MHN) - Developed by Ed Carstens for use with his juggling program JugglePro, MHN can describe patterns with any number of hands and at any rhythm, but use is limited due to its being as complex as a computer programming language.
*General siteswap (GS) - Developed by Ben Beever, GS places siteswap into a matrix that allows the addition of any other information about any aspect of juggling, including tricks such as backcrosses and hand movements.

Beatmap

Beatmap [http://www.jugglingdb.com/jugglewiki/index.php/BeatMapNotation] is a new juggling notation system, developed in 2004 by Luke Burrage. While there are some similarities between beatmap and synch siteswap, there are also fundamental differences. The most important is that beatmap notates every "hand" on every beat during a pattern, unlike all forms of siteswap, which only notate each hand on every other beat. This means that beatmap can notate any number of hands and in any rhythm with no added complexity, unlike siteswap, which needs many extended sets of rules and syntax to be able to communicate the same patterns.

Beatmap notates not only each throw, but also the time and place of each catch. By including a simple indication of crossing and uncrossing arms, beatmap can notate Mills Mess–style patterns. Within beatmap it is also possible and easy to notate not only the balls in a pattern, but also the hands or arms of the juggler, as well as the position, location or orientation of the body of a juggler. Users claim that beatmap can more accurately describe more patterns than all ladder diagrams, causal diagrams, Mills Mess state transition diagrams, vanilla siteswap, synch siteswap, passing siteswap, and multi-hand notation combined.

So far use of beatmap is very limited, as most jugglers and juggling software understand only variations of siteswap.