[PD-dev] [declare -distro vanilla]

[dmotd]

what i think would be genuinely useful is a method for passing arguments to 
the parser *before* creation, or at least before the loadbang. currently 
the -send "receive-obj message", allows a method to communicate with a patch 
using runtime specific arguments, but as this message is only sent after the 
loadbang it is not much use for initialisation. i am thinking of something 
like #ifdef, which could perhaps behave like a [switch] for enabling 
execution of directives in a subpatch/abstraction, or a [spigot] blocking 
access to a chain..

this way the 'distro' specific directions are handled by distributing 
a .pdsettings file or something similar and anything 'distro' specific would 
be defined with a macro inside the patch. this would assure that necessary 
libs are loaded and any runtime execution can occur using such a -send 
replacement.. perhaps i am talking about the same thing hans, but i have 
misinterpreted you proposal?

on a similar note, i was wondering if there is an object that stores loaded 
class namespaces and which could be checked against with boolean output, so 
that i could gracefully provide fallback mechanisms if an object doesn't 
exist, or alternatively, provide extra functionality when an object does 
exist. for example, i have some work that uses the vasp lib extensively for 
non-realtime computation of sample buffers, but i have also written a 
fallback that can produce similar with vanilla objects. i would prefer use of 
vasp, but the patch still runs without, currently i am having to redirect 
using a spigot which is called using a '-send "VASP 0"', which really is not 
ideal. 

dmotd

On Thursday 19 March 2009 10:23:19 Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> On Mar 18, 2009, at 8:06 AM, IOhannes m zmoelnig wrote:
> > Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> >> Then there could be also something like a 'maxmsp' distro for a
> >> compatibility mode.  So I was thinking there could be a "#X declare
> >> -distro vanilla" that each distro saves into every file.  It would
> >> be safely ignored for Pd versions that didn't support the -distro
> >> flag.
> >
> > what would e.g. Pd-vanilla that supported a "-distro" flag do if it
> > encountered a [declare -distro maxmsp]?
>
> That would be up to Miller.  Ignoring it would be one possibility.
>
> > furthermore: i don't think that it is good design to have [declare]
> > accept _any_ arguments and ignore them at will (e.g. if it decides
> > to not support "-distro", then it could either explicitely ignore "-
> > distro" or accept any argument and only use those that it knows about.
>
> I am not sure I follow what you are asking. The behavior of this would
> be dependent on the distro.  So someone could quietly ignore all -
> distro flags, they could through warnings or errors, or do a little
> dance.
>
> >> This distro flag would then setup the canvas-local namespace with
> >> the libraries as they are loaded for that distro.
> >
> > in general, i think the idea tobe able to load named library-bundles
> > is not such a bad idea.
> > i imagine it (right now; but this could be total nonsense) to load
> > snippets of preference-files (that are stored somewhere in the path).
> >
> > e.g.
> > <snip>
> > % cat ~/.pd/moko.prefs
> > path: ~/pd/mokolib
> > stdlib: rjdj
> >
> > </snip>
> >
> > and using [declare -loadbundle moko] would then add the path and lib
> > to the canvas-local namespace.
> >
> > gmsft
> > IOhannes
>
> I think that there should be some distro file format that could be
> placed in a folder to be installed and used.  That way people could
> freely create and distribution their own.
>
> I am thinking this isn't like a library, I think there would only be a
> handful of distros defined.  I don't think this functionality would
> work so well with many, many distros but perhaps.
>
> .hc
>
>
>
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