I’m certainly not a programmer (unless you count 1980’s vintage Apple Logo with the green turtle), but a colleague just informed me of a simple protocol standard called CITP that allows programmers to connect advanced lighting devices:

CITP is an open protocol for integration of lighting controllers, media servers and visualizers on a higher-than-control level. It makes it possible to browse a media server with thumbnail previews of content as well as effects, to use the correct effect-specific parameter names while programming and to preview output from a controller or visualizer. It also allows bidirectional DMX, device selection and patch transfer to and from visualizers.

CITP is maintained by a workgroup of developers from leading lighting technology companies around the world.

I find it fascinating that such a nascent standard exists between a relatively small pool of programmers in a small pool of companies playing in this space.  The potential is huge for connecting these advanced networked lighting systems into architectural visualizations.