[PD-dev] removing path and libs from Pd-extended preferences GUI

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Tue, 2011-09-20 at 13:19 -0700, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
> > To: IOhannes m zmoelnig <zmoelnig at iem.at>
> > Cc: pd-dev at iem.at
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 11:46 AM
> > Subject: Re: [PD-dev] removing path and libs from Pd-extended preferences GUI
> > 
> > On Tue, 2011-09-20 at 09:31 +0200, IOhannes m zmoelnig wrote:
> >>  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> >>  Hash: SHA1
> >> 
> >>  On 2011-09-19 19:32, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> >>  > 
> >>  > Hey Miller,
> >>  > 
> >>  > I actually think this would make switching between vanilla and 
> > extended
> >>  > easier because it would make people use [import] or [declare] to load
> >>  > libs, then when using vanilla, you'll know which libraries the 
> > patch
> >>  > needs.  Can you think of examples where it would make things more
> >>  > difficult?
> >> 
> >>  so the idea is to have tons of error messages when using pd-vanilla, of
> >>  the kind: "import zexy... couldn't create" so that the user 
> > knows that
> >>  they have to load the "zexy" library and henceforth ignore the 
> > "import
> >>  zexy" line and only check the remaining "import 
> > foobar...couldn't create"?
> >> 
> >>  i seem to remember that there was a recent email saying that "a patch
> >>  relying on an error" was not to be considered as correct.
> > 
> > Either way, if you open a patch that uses zexy objects in Pd-vanilla,
> > there will be "...couldn't create" errors.  Having [import zexy] 
> > there
> > at least gives a place to focus on.  Or if people are interested in more
> > portability, they are welcome to either use [declare] or "apt-get
> > install puredata-import"
> 
> A few questions:
> 
> * What's the difference between [import foo] and [declare -lib foo]?  Both 
> seem to load the library into the patch's local namespace.

Underneath, they are the same thing.  I could never remember the
[declare] syntax so I wrote [import] and [classpath].

> * Isn't there an issue between loading a lib in the patch's local 
> namespace and the way the setup routine works globally for a library?
> 
> If I have
> 
> Patch #1
> [import iemguts]
> 
> Patch #2
> [sendcanvas] <- sendcanvas won't load, because its lib was only loaded for Patch #1
> 
> But if I have
> 
> Patch #1
> [import iemguts]
> [sendcanvas]
> 
> Patch #2
> [sendcanvas] <- this loads, because instantiating [sendcanvas] in Patch #1 loaded the 
> lib globally

Yes this is true.  The namespaces stuff isn't fully implemented yet.
The way to guarantee you are getting a specific object is to use the
namespace prefix, i.e. [iemguts/sendcanvas].

> Finally:
> * why did you develop [import] instead of improving [declare]?

Because what I wanted to do would have broken the syntax of [declare],
and others wanted it the way it was.

.hc