[PD] Objects vs Classes (was: libraries in Pd-extended 0.43)

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Tue, 14 Dec 2010, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:

> You've used this argument before.  I don't remember exactly what the 
> topic was-- maybe recursion-- and you made the point that pretty much 
> verbatim-- that Pd is very different from everything else.  I don't 
> know, maybe you were talking about "tactics" (see below).

Pd is very different from everything else and very similar to everything 
else. It depends which aspect you look at. You can't look at how one part 
of pd is original and conclude that all of pd is like that, or vice versa.

On average, I found similarities to happen at a larger scale than 
differences, but that doesn't apply all of the time, which is why I say 
«on average». Nevertheless, I thought I'd say strategies for the larger 
scale, and tactics for the small scale.

> It looks as if you a) wrote the "we're-soooo-completely-different" 
> straw man,

Speaking of strawman,

> (How is it that the Pd tacticians are reasonable people but the Pd 
> strategists are egomanical?)

1. I didn't say egomaniacal,

2. I didn't say that there were tacticians vs strategists : I didn't say 
that there were two kinds of people in the Pd community.

To give a few examples, in programming, ordering of operations is often 
important, and it's like that in Pd as well, but Pd has its own means of 
dealing with it : hot/cold, right-to-left, [t], etc. ; also, the way to 
deal with large problems is to make components, and those components are 
usually classes that are instantiated with constructors to produce objects 
that respond to messages using methods, and in Pd it's like that too, but 
the objects also may have inlets, outlets, and the classes may be patches.

> c) decided to give yourself an escape route by making an arbitrary 
> division between strategies and tactics.

Can you just make a quick inventory of similarities and differences 
between Pd and a «written» programming language of your choice, and 
confirm that more similarities are in the big picture, and more 
differences are in the details ? It would save us some sweat, and if you 
can actually find ways to contradict me, I would like it.

> b) realized it might apply to yourself,

What are you talking about.

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| Mathieu Bouchard ---- tél: +1.514.383.3801 ---- Villeray, Montréal, QC