[PD-dev] ideas for developing data structures further

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

(I've had this sitting my Drafts box for a while, its time to send it  
out...)

In the process of making my "Solitude" composition  
(http://at.or.at/hans/solitude ), I came up with a few ideas for  
improvements on Pd's data structures.  Overall I found it to be a quite  
nice composition environment and with some not so major changes, it  
could be quite usable as is.

- a way to delete scalars

The biggest improvement would be the addition of a method to delete  
scalars.  This would allow a number of things currently not possible. A  
simple example would be to have a cursor and minute markers that only  
exists when the score is being played.   A really great example would  
be the ability to show and hide parts of the graphical representation.   
   For example, each voice could be saved to an individual file, then  
with a toggle, it would be displayed or hidden.

- a way to raise/lower scalars so you can get to scalars that are  
blocked by others

This is minor, but it would be handy to have a "send-to-back" function,  
so that you could get to scalars that are completely obscured by  
another.  This could be implemented using something like a Shift-click,  
a menu item, and/or a key command.

- full color support (8-bits for each R, G, B)

If the data structures support standard 24-bit color, then color could  
be a much more usable dimension.  The current scheme is a bit odd, and  
is quite limited in terms of the range of colors it can represent.  The  
hard part of this is then how to represent the color as a number.  You  
can't do standard hex with Pd because it would then be interpreted as a  
symbol if letter digits were present (a-f) and a float if no letter  
digits where present.  Perhaps the most straightforward way to handle  
it would be to make one float for each R, G, and B.   The graphic  
design standard seems to be 0-255, but since Pd is float-based 0-1  
might make sense.  And 0-1 would be easy enough to/from 0-255.

.hc

________________________________________________________________________ 
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"Looking at things from a more basic level, you can come up with a more  
direct solution... It may sound small in theory, but it in practice, it  
can change entire economies."

     - Amy Smith 
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