[PD] Pd FLOSS Manual Update pt 1

Derek Holzer derek at umatic.nl
Sat Apr 11 14:16:36 CEST 2009


Hi Frank,

as I've mentioned before, this obscure and arcane business of many types 
of messages is probably the most incomprehensible bit for new users 
coming to Pd. What I'd like to see in this chapter is not just another 
taxonomy of the different kind of messages Pd has. Rather, I'd like to 
see clear tutorials with real world examples of why you would use 
different messages for different purposes instead of presenting a bunch 
of abstract information right away.

I think the priority for the FLOSS Manual should be to show *why* things 
are used, rather than to be exhaustive about all the different things 
that *could* be used. So if obscure details are skipped in the beginning 
in favor of clarity, I would prefer that. Other, later examples can show 
the more exotic types and uses of "meta messages" "custom messages" etc, 
or the distinctions between them when it becomes important.

It's a different approach than most people currently in Pd seem to be 
used to writing. Probably this has to do with how they learned it...by 
being given lists of things to memorize! ;-)

best!
D.

Frank Barknecht wrote:
> Hallo,
> Jo?o Pais hat gesagt: // Jo?o Pais wrote:
> 
>>> * http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/PureData/Messages
>>> --Looks very good!
>> thanks,
> 
> One remark though: In messages08.pd messages without a symbol/list/float
> selector ("meta-messages") are called "undefined strings" which I think is
> misleading and even wrong: Pd vanilla doesn't have proper strings, and these
> messages are defined like anything else, they even are very common everywhere in Pd
> ("reset", "set", "read", "open" etc. come to mind).
> 
> In messages09.pd ff. a lot of these meta-messages are used, so it's even more
> misleading to call them undefined strings before.
> 
> In the context of this explanation I would just call them "other messages" or
> meta-messages, which is the term used by Miller, or "custom messages".
> 
> Ciao

-- 
::: derek holzer ::: http://blog.myspace.com/macumbista ::: 
http://www.vimeo.com/macumbista :::
---Oblique Strategy # 146:
"Spectrum analysis"




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