[PD] Some basic Questions about externs

[Timothy Nicol]

Hi,

I'm new to PD, and I am currently thinking of using it to aid me in
university project.  I have a question about writing your
own externs.

Is it possible to read in an existing file from some path, and then use 
the contents of this file within an extern that i write?

For example, say the file contains some pitch information, and then i 
want to compare the analog input to this file. Essentially, I want to 
follow the input with some sort of reference to what i'm expecting.  
Is this possible?

I am new to PD, and still a university programmer so bare with me :).

Any reply would be greatly appreciated.

-Tim Nicol