[PD] "object" or "class" in pdpedia

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

There is a ton of documentation out there, and there are varying  
standards about how things are described and named.  We can't heed  
them all, so we should come up with something that is clean and concise.

The term "class" has not really been used in Pd land much at all.   
The term "object" has been used for both classes and instances.  I  
think that Roman's suggestion is a good one. "objectclass" should be  
clear in Pd space, yet makes the important distinction between  
"class" and "instance".

One example of why this is relevant in Pd land is when you create  
your own classes in Pd.  If you create a patch, save it as a file,  
then load it into another patch, then you have created a class, and  
instances of that class.

I vote for clearer documentation and terminology over keeping old bad  
habits. :D

.hc

On Sep 12, 2007, at 5:59 PM, Thomas Grill wrote:

> Hey all,
> my vote is for object, although it's technically incorrect.
> Thinking of my course next semester, i guess i would have a hard time
> explaining the class/object difference to the students, most of who
> have no programming experience at all.
> I tend to think that for pd this differentiation is not really an
> issue outside external programming (which isn't targetted in this
> discussion).
>
> gr~~~
>
> Am 12.09.2007 um 23:41 schrieb Roman Haefeli:
>
>> On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 17:22 -0400, marius schebella wrote:
>>> what you say make sense, it is just not true for Pd. in object
>>> oriented
>>> programming (and maybe other programming too) the instantiation of a
>>> "class" is called object. but referring to the miller's pd
>>> documentation
>>> (html) there are no classes, and he calls classes "objects".
>>> '"reference" patches, one for each kind of object in Pd'.
>>> so even if there is the technical differentiation between that not
>>> instantiated thing, usually called "class" and the instance of it,
>>> called "object", that naming convention is not true for Pd.
>>> both, the "class" and the instance are known as "object".
>>> marius.
>>
>> i don't know what to say, you are so right..... :-)
>>
>> it's true that - regarding pd - i didn't find the term class  
>> anywhere.
>> nevertheless,  i personally wouldn't be against the introduction of
>> the
>> term 'class' at all, since it describes what it is anyway. no matter
>> what convention is currently used, when we are talking about  
>> 'dac~' we
>> are talking about the class 'dac~', even if the convention says,
>> that we
>> should call it 'object'. i vote for turning the facts into  
>> conventions
>> rather than sticking with conventions, which are wrong.
>>
>> although i absolutely see your point:
>> one vote -> class (or objectclass)
>>
>> roman
>>
>>
>> 		
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