[PD-dev] mystery type generated by [list trim]

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,
Hans-Christoph Steiner hat gesagt: // Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:

> That outlines the situation well.  So my point is now that this needs  
> to be fixed either way. The definition of atoms should be  
> consistent.  I think its good the way its defined in the manual:
> 
> "Atoms are either numbers or symbols like "+". Anything that is not a  
> valid number is considered a symbol."
> 
> Therefore "1234" should always be a numeric atom.  

To be pedantic: You cannot conclude this from the manual, because one
could extend the quote as: "Anything that is not a valid number is
considered a symbol ... and something that is a valid number can be
(made into) a symbol as well in certain rare circumnstances. But then
it's not a usual number ("float") anymore and you need to be careful."

> I think that the  
> type system should prevent this from happening, but maybe its also  
> possible to fix the objects that are creating this mystery type.  So  
> far its [makefilename] and [dumpOSC].
> 
> But perhaps it would me nice to be able to use a numeric atom in a  
> symbol message, I seem to recall that being useful sometimes.  But  
> that should probably be tested out in examples.

I somehow remember that numeric symbols have their use with the
text-rendering objects of Gem (phone numbers that start with 0 come to
mind). In day-to-day use purely numeric symbols aren't needed and
normally they aren't generated as well.  I'd consider generating
numeric symbols "advanced Pd usage. ;) And *if* someone generates
them, one should be aware of the consequences for example in [select]
and [route].

Anyway what is needed in the long term is a proper string type. 

Ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                 _ ______footils.org_ __goto10.org__