[PD] Garbage collection / py 0.0.1 python script object

[Larry Troxler]

jfm3 wrote:
> 
> I worry a lot about this external, as well as about Joe Sarlo's GrIPD.

And don't forget my scheme extern http:/www.westnet.com/~lt/pd

> Python is not anywhere near a real time language. Run time environments
> with automatic memory deallocation are very tricky to get to work in
> bounded time. I worry that when a moderate to large amount of Python
> code gets loaded, and the program runs for a while, its garbage
> collection and paging behavior will cause timing failures in even simple
> MIDI processing. Am I just being up tight about all music code being
> bounded time, or does anyone else see this as a real issue?
> 

I can't answer for Python, but I assume that any garbage-collecting
language engine would allow you to disable automatic garbage collection,
so that it doesn't happen at unexpected times behind your back. 

So, it becomes an issue of whether you have enough ram to cover  you for
the duration of your performance. 

When working with my scheme external, I rationalized the situation
thusly: well, I certainly want to stream any performance I do with PD to
disk, right? So I have to make sure my machine has enough disk space to
stream the duration of the performance. Likewise, I have this scheme
extern that eats up RAM as time goes on, so I should make sure my
machine has enough RAM to 
cover the duration of the performance.

Larry


> On Fri, 2002-03-29 at 20:51, Thomas Grill wrote:
> > here is the first release of a simple python script object.
> 
> --
> (jfm3)
> 
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