[PD] (breaking symbols) was Re: find a list of numbers in a text file

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Sat, 10 Sep 2011, Martin Peach wrote:

> If you say so. I was just saying that the default should avoid the 
> all-encompassing conversion and not try second-guessing the users' 
> intentions. It's probably safe to have Pd convert a symbol to a float by 
> default iff there is no symbol method and there is a float method. 
> Trying to interpret every possible string as a float would add huge 
> amount of bloat and delay to core Pd.

What does that mean ?

We're basically talking about the case where a method wants to read a 
float in message, and a symbol is found, in a way that would produce 
either a Type Mismatch error and/or a 0 value no matter what the content 
of the symbol was. So it only makes a difference in those cases and not in 
cases where symbols are handed to a method that wants to have symbols, 
which would stay the same and just as fast.

Anyway, if Pd (or any given method in particular) already has the ability 
to tell you Type Mismatch and/or replace the symbol by a 0 float, it 
already has all the «bloat» and «delay» necessary to do the conversion 
job.

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