[PD] (breaking symbols) was Re: find a list of numbers in a text file

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Fri, 9 Sep 2011, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:

> How would you then describe how Pd judges the difference between a 
> symbol and a float? I wish there was more on this topic in the manual, 
> but there is not.

It's quite hard to do biblical interpretation... and it doesn't 
necessarily pay off.

In the facts, programmes are written for machines to execute, and only 
incidentally for people to read. So, issues of backward compatibility 
happen regardless of what the manual actually says, and it's possible that 
a programme doesn't reflect the intent, that a manual doesn't reflect the 
intent, and/or that a manual doesn't reflect the programme. How you 
resolve such a conflict is... some kind of triple-edged sword... but 
remember that the intent in question needs not to be the original intent, 
I'm talking about the current intents.

E.g. if you pass a symbol through [trigger float], which is documented as 
something that «converts» data, and what it does to any symbol is turn it 
to 0, you can safely throw away both the documentation and the presumed 
original intent and move on. Then you may decide a new intent that is 
useful instead of nonsensical.

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| Mathieu Bouchard ---- tél: +1.514.383.3801 ---- Villeray, Montréal, QC