[PD-dev] an idea for Pd structure

[guenter geiger]

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> So all of the ideas from the pd~conference are still swirling around my
> head and slowly distilling out.  One idea which I think emerged from
> the conference about how Pd should ideally be structured:
>
> - high level objects for rapid programming and beginners
> - high level objects would be written in Pd so that the user can easily
> get inside it
> - Pd should provide a broad set of the lowest level of operators,
> whether they be for audio, messages, video, etc.

I do agree, one of the reasons that I think that external developers
should work together is to extract a common set of orthogonal, flexible
objects that make up the core of pd.

I think the discussion we had about the extension of lists goes into
the right direction.
It might also be a good idea to figure out which of the externals
can be replaced with pd internal objects, or sometimes, in which
way we can expand internals so that we do not need externals (the
spigot vs. gate example).

A lot of this knowledge could come from people who know pd well and are
trying to build higher level abstractions like Frank does.

rradical without externals, thats what we need.

Guenter


>
> One key thing for this idea to work is that objects written in Pd
> should behave the same as those written in C, C++, etc.  Things are
> already headed in this direction, with such new features as help
> patches for abstractions, etc.
>
> I think this idea should be broadly applied in Pd and there are already
> a number of examples of this.  A set of toxy widget abstractions would
> be a great solution for GUI objects, and I think the video/graphics
> packages already provide low level operations, it would be good to see
> more high level, reusable abstractions for video/graphics.
>
> I am currently in the process of implementing a set of cross-platform
> objects for general access to Human Interface Devices within Pd and
> this idea is a central inspiration.  I am implementing a HID event
> object then I am making objects written in Pd for higher level access,
> like [mouse], [joystick], [tablet], etc.
>
> That's my two bits, I'd love to hear what others think.
>
> .hc
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ____
>
> "Information wants to be free."
>                               -Stewart Brand
>