lists vs. anything? Re: [PD] trigger

[Miller Puckette]

Hi Larry,

The reason for "list" is so that messages can all have a symbolic selector;
so that, if you type "1 2 3" into a message box, the actual message is
"list 1 2 3".  However, you can type "list" explicitly if you want, and if you
want to have a list starting with a symbol, like "dog 1 2 3", you have
to type "list dog 1 2 3"; otherwise the selector would be "dog" and the 
arguments "1 2 3".

The reason every message isn't "list" is so that you can have objects that
take lists but also take other messages -- pipe, for instance, delays lists
but also has a "flush" message.

There ought to be objects that just convert "list" to arbitrary messages and
vice versa.  I'm scared in general to add features like that without checking
how Max does it first...  next time I get close to a MacIntosh I'll try to
get a plan together...

cheers
Miller



On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 06:48:25PM -0400, Larry Troxler wrote:
> Johannes M Zmoelnig wrote:
> > 
> > hi miller, hi list !
> > 
> > why has the "trigger" object no method for anythings ? is this due to
> > historical reasons ?
> > it is quite annoying to have to convert all anythings to lists and than
> > "route list" them back to anythings again, if you want to force a special
> > sequencing for anything-messages.
> > 
> > i would suggest
> > =--------
> > |t b a a|
> > =---=---=
> > or something like that.
> > 
> > (maybe no one ever needed this, but it would make things much easier with
> > my matrices)
> > 
> > mfg.dsa.sdart
> > IOhannes
> 
> Yeah, me too :-). I had attempted to simplify the interconnections in a
> group of patches, by packaging things up into messages, but I found that
> "trigger" didn't work when fed a message (list?).
> 
> Also, I'm quite completely, absolutely, insanely confused as to the
> difference between lists and anythings. 
> 
> Can someone please explain the PD message concept to me (lists,
> messages, anythings), so that I can get to sleep at night without the
> men in uniforms having to come in and inject me with all that nasty
> stuff which they say will calm me down but I don't beleive it will and
> I'm sorry but I'm getting kind of tired and ...
> 
> 
> Larry