[PD-dev] $0 in messages, was: multiple $arg-expansion

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Feb 3, 2006, at 4:56 AM, Mathieu Bouchard wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>
>> On Jan 21, 2006, at 2:34 PM, Mathieu Bouchard wrote:
>>> One major hinderance is your insistence on calling them undefined  
>>> sets.
>>> The fact is that they're neither undefined nor sets. In PureData  
>>> those
>>> things are called messages. Messages have selectors. Selectors are  
>>> used to
>>> select methods.
> [...]
>>> Or have I missed any important detail?
>> "undefined sets" are sets of atoms that are not a symbol, float,  
>> pointer, or
>> list.  A message can be made up of a symbol, float, pointer, list, or  
>> a set of
>> atoms that is none of those types.  All of these are messages, all  
>> with
>> selectors (albeit sometimes its an implied selector).  "A set of  
>> atoms that is
>> not a symbol, float, pointer, or list" is an "undefined set".
>
> What you state is again what I already know. You don't explain what is  
> so
> undefined about them. You don't explain why you call them sets without  
> an
> adjective saying that they're totally ordered ($1,$2,$3,...), which is  
> a
> big no-no in comp.sci. Anything called just "set" in comp.sci or  
> standard
> math is assumed to not have an order assigned to it.
>
> Just because miscellaneous messages aren't selected by your [route bang
> float symbol list] and labeling the last outlet with "UNDEFINED"  
> doesn't
> make miscellaneous messages less defined, whatever "defined" means in  
> this
> case.

If its not an "undefined set", then feel free to suggest alternatives.  
"undefined list" and "list list" just seems whacky to me.  But I guess  
its as whacky as Pd's list handling.

> Btw, in that help patch:
>
>  * you forgot to handle the pointer case, which forms a triad with the
>    float and symbol cases.

Please add it.

>  * you don't need to doublequote the word "selector" everywhere. I  
> think
>    that it's a pretty standard word when talking about messages in an  
> OOP
>    context.

The idea was to quote keywords related to Pd.

>  * when you say "with a cast" and "withOUT a cast" you don't say what a
>    cast is.

I think there is a link to the all_about that talks about casting.

The all_abouts are not finished by any means.  They are mostly a  
sketchpad at this point.

.hc



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related to the telescope."
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