[PD] Pd META: Author/Help Patch Authors

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Sep 1, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:

>
>
> --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at> wrote:
>
>> From: Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
>> Subject: Re: [PD] Pd META: Author/Help Patch Authors
>> To: "Jonathan Wilkes" <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: pd-list at iem.at
>> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 9:21 PM
>>
>> On Sep 1, 2009, at 2:21 PM, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
>>
>>> --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
>>>> Subject: Re: [PD] Pd META: Author/Help Patch
>> Authors
>>>> To: "Jonathan Wilkes" <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>>>> Cc: pd-list at iem.at
>>>> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 7:15 PM
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 1, 2009, at 1:08 PM, Jonathan Wilkes
>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Jonathan Wilkes <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> From: Jonathan Wilkes <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [PD] Pd META: Author/Help
>> Patch
>>>> Authors
>>>>>> To: "Hans-Christoph Steiner" <hans at at.or.at>
>>>>>> Cc: pd-list at iem.at
>>>>>> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 5:47 PM
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Hans-Christoph Steiner
>> <hans at at.or.at>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> From: Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [PD] Pd META: Author/Help
>> Patch
>>>> Authors
>>>>>>> To: "Jonathan Wilkes" <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>>>>>>> Cc: pd-list at iem.at
>>>>>>> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 4:05
>> PM
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sep 1, 2009, at 12:41 AM, Jonathan
>> Wilkes
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Hans-Christoph
>> Steiner
>>>> <hans at at.or.at>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> From: Hans-Christoph Steiner
>> <hans at at.or.at>
>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [PD] Pd META:
>> Author/Help
>>>> Patch
>>>>>>> Authors
>>>>>>>>> To: "Jonathan Wilkes" <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>>>>>>>>> Cc: pd-list at iem.at
>>>>>>>>> Date: Tuesday, September 1,
>> 2009, 5:00
>>>> AM
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It is Pd, so I think we should
>> at
>>>> least make
>>>>>> an
>>>>>>> effort to
>>>>>>>>> make things easy to parse in
>> Pd.
>>>> I tried
>>>>>>> your parser
>>>>>>>>> using data that is probably
>> closer to
>>>> what
>>>>>> we
>>>>>>> might use, and
>>>>>>>>> it didn't work at
>>>> all.   If someone
>>>>>>> can get a
>>>>>>>>> Pd parser working that can
>> handle the
>>>> commas
>>>>>> well,
>>>>>>> then I
>>>>>>>>> would be OK using commas in
>> the meta
>>>> data
>>>>>> format.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Here's my data:
>>>>>>>>> tags - pure data, frequency
>>>> modulation,
>>>>>> synthesis
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Hans,
>>>>>>>>        I
>> wouldn't expect my
>>>> example
>>>>>>> to work as a general solution.
>> If you
>>>>>>>> want a general solution, I'd be
>> happy to
>>>> take a
>>>>>> stab
>>>>>>> at it, but you
>>>>>>>> haven't said what you want Pd to
>> do with
>>>> the
>>>>>> data
>>>>>>> example you've provided
>>>>>>>> above.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ah, sorry, I thought you'd followed
>> the
>>>> object_db.tcl
>>>>>>> plugin discussion and the [pd META]
>> discussion
>>>> with
>>>>>>> Frank.  Basically, the
>> object_db.tcl
>>>> plugin builds a
>>>>>>> multilevel menu for finding objects
>> based on
>>>> tags.
>>>>>> I'm
>>>>>>> am sure people will think of other
>> uses for
>>>> the
>>>>>> tags.
>>>>>>> Frank suggested using comma separated
>> tags in
>>>> his [pd
>>>>>>> REFERENCE] format, the PDDP group came
>> to the
>>>>>> conclusion
>>>>>>> that the meta data should be easily
>> parsable
>>>> by Pd,
>>>>>> and I
>>>>>>> still think that's a good idea.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So the idea is to have every help
>> patch have a
>>>> [pd
>>>>>> META]
>>>>>>> subpatch, and in it, have a comment
>> with
>>>> tags.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> .hc
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, ok.  I'll have a look at that
>>>> discussion.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Jonathan
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, I have seen this discussion.  But
>> I'm still
>>>> confused: are commas
>>>>> a problem in tcl?  If not, I still don't
>>>> understand the problem (see
>>>>> attached).
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> <file.pd><parser.pd>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tcl's not the problem, its Pd's parser.  It
>> interprets
>>>> commas as a
>>>> separator between messages.  Since there
>> isn't an
>>>> escape mechanism, it
>>>> means handling commas, semi-colons, etc. is
>> difficult
>>>> unless you are
>>>> wanting the behavior of Pd's parser.
>>>>
>>>> If we use commas as the delimiter for individual
>> tags, then
>>>> just
>>>> removing the commas means you don't know if you
>> have
>>>> multi-word tags
>>>> or just single word tags.  So if you have:
>>>>
>>>>      tags - frequency
>> modulation, synth
>>>>
>>>> and its parsed as:
>>>>
>>>>      tags frequency modulation
>> synth
>>>>
>>>> then key information is lost.
>>>
>>> Ok. (see attached)
>>
>> Works for me!  Frank will be happy. So let's use
>> comma-separated tags
>> and see what happens...
>
> So what kinds of tasks do you want Pd to do with these META comments?
> If you already have specific ideas in mind (or have written about them
> already some place), let me know and I'll try to put together some
> patches.

I think they'll be very useful for searching for an object that does  
what you want, or organizing the help patches into some kind of  
navigatable hierarchy.  Perhaps people will think of other uses as well.

> I'm also getting close to the finishing refactoring the help patches
> in the reference folder.  What should I do with them when I'm  
> finished?
> Attach a zip file to the list?

This sounds great! To start with, try posting some to the list, or  
putting the zip on puredata.info and post a link.

.hc

>
> -Jonathan
>
>>
>> .hc
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -Jonathan
>>>
>>>>
>>>> .hc
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Programs should be written for people to read, and
>> only
>>>> incidentally
>>>> for machines to execute.
>>>>    - from Structure and
>> Interpretation of Computer
>>>> Programs
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> <file.pd><parser.pd>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Using ReBirth is like trying to play an 808 with a long
>> stick.    -
>> David Zicarelli
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>



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