[PD] newbie growing pains...

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Feb 20, 2007, at 9:14 PM, Derek Holzer wrote:

> Hi Jared,
>
> for what it's worth, I've been working with PD for years and I still
> can't read most other people's patches ;-)
>
> Everybody has their own style, their own "handwriting", and some are
> more readable than others. Diving right into somebody's finished patch
> is pretty difficult for an experienced user, and almost impossible  
> for a
> beginner, I'd say! If you were trying to learn German, would you start
> by reading Goethe?

Partially, I think this is due to lack of common practice in coding  
style and things like that.  Most languages, programming or other,  
have a lot of standard practices when it comes to writing them done  
in different contexts.  For whatever reason, the Pd/Max world has not  
developed many conventions, and I think that makes reading other  
people's patches harder.

.hc

> I learned PD by reproducing things which I understood already in  
> stages,
> such as going from a quad-panner, a mixer, a sampler and a
> delay-network, to complex feedback-FM, a granular synthesizer and an
> algorithmic sequencer...etc etc. First I played around with the  
> built-in
> examples, then I made simple things and basic utilities. After that I
> went back to the examples I skipped and figured out what I did wrong,
> and then I moved on to "porting" things from other apps I had used
> before and knew the structure of (AudioMulch units, Reaktor  
> instruments,
> various VSTs, etc). These kinds of exercises are the ones I think work
> best. Start from a point you know, and figure out how to do it with  
> the
> most basic objects in PD. If core PD doesn't do it, then it's time to
> reach for an external.
>
> best,
> d.
>
> jared wrote:
>
>> obvious similarities, but the more time I spend with PD the more they
>> feel like different beasts.   I will definitely go back and start  
>> from
>> square one with PD.
>
>
> -- 
> derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
> ---Oblique Strategy # 77:
> "Give way to your worst impulse"
>
> _______________________________________________
> PD-list at iem.at mailing list
> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/ 
> listinfo/pd-list


------------------------------------------------------------------------

"[W]e have invented the technology to eliminate scarcity, but we are  
deliberately throwing it away to benefit those who profit from  
scarcity."        -John Gilmore