[PD] Pd Development "Reverse Kickstarter"

[João Pais]

I find it a nice idea. Some ideas:

- I myself am very interested in anything that will improve on data
structures, although that's a niche. Either by improving existing objects
(like the array "change" pointer, and I have a list of other wishes
somewhere), or by adding new methods or objects that make things easier.
It's still amazing at how much work is necessary to perform simple
operations.
- a specific question: does it make sense to use the -xxxxx color scheme
(used in gui objects) on data structures? that wouldn't break the existing
one, and would add an rgb reference, which makes much more sense than the
current "logic"

- at some point I spoke with IOhannes about porting FTM to Pd. It seems an
impossible task, but do you mind just having a look to see if there's "a
new hope"? As I recall, the main problem was the GUI implementation.

- let [readsf~] keep files open after playing once, and add a "seek" or
"play x [to] y" function

- does [readany] really work? how about adding flac to it?

- at some point I posted a bug in pd-dev about big arrays not displaying  
anything after 2000(?) points. Improving on this might be good
- for an array [foo], [r foo] would spew details like changes in  
properties and user interaction?

- depending on the question above, is there any working mp3 object in pd?

- since [soundfiler] has to read a sound file's information, how about it
also dumps out the general parameters given by [wavinfo],
[tof/sample_unpack], [soundfile_info]? this one isn't really an emergency,
but it's a bit strange to be doubling the amount of objects.


You should not just put something about your idea in your website, but
also in the puredata.info wiki. Maybe there are other persons that would
like to contribute or to help with the programming.


João


> Hi List,
>      I'd like to try a method of getting paid for doing Pd work which I  
> will call a "Reverse" Kickstarter".  Basically I'll work on the aspects  
> of Pd I'm currently working on through the month of May, full time, then  
> at the beginning of June if anyone wants to pay me for the work I finish  
> up to that point I'll do another month's work, full time, if a  
> particular goal is reached.  This way the Pd community will end up with  
> the benefit of my work at the beginning of June at no risk/cost, and  
> I'll do a lot of the work I would have done anyway (though devoting more  
> time to it than I would have otherwise).
>      I call it a "Reverse Kickstarter" for this reason-- if the work I  
> complete in May is enough for someone to donate X amound of money, then  
> even if I fail to produce anything of value in June the donor still got  
> something of value for their donation.  Of course I plan on continuing  
> to develop and hopefully getting better at it as I learn, but the point  
> is instead of trying to garner a buzz around potential development (and  
> most Kickstarter projects fail, so its risky), I instead garner a buzz  
> around actual development for which potential donors can reward me, use  
> as a gauge for what my future development will be, or both.
>
> Here's what I'm currently working on:
>
> * [canvasinfo], [pdinfo], and [classinfo] objects to streamline getting  
> information about parts of Pd that do not have xlets for messages:  
> implemented, but does not include all pd attributes yet (like audio/midi  
> devices)
> * jump-on-click and bar graph style options for "Put" menu arrays:  
> implemented, but I need to do more testing and make it possible to  
> change the baseline for data structure arrays based on quanta values
> * centralized "Preferences" dialog with tabs for General, Audio, Midi,  
> GUI, and possibly some others: just started implementing it, will work  
> on it for the next few days
> * improve tooltips: show tip next to mouse location, and have separate  
> canvas tip for stuff like pddplink to show firefox-style link address.  
> add xlet descriptions, so you can get one or two word description of  
> what the xlet does in addition to its method (handy for objects like  
> [vcf~], [tabread], etc.)
> * use libname-meta.pd file to find aliases for objects with a creator  
> name that cannot be a c function name (like ">~")
>
> And some future stuff:
> * use Xapian for better search-plugin speed and functionality
> * [drawimage] for data structures
> * building Pd using MinGW from GNU/Linux: unless someone already has  
> this working...
> * gui-plugin to export pd patch to svg
> * way to embed pd source in svg, or use <g> to group things per object
> * adding a function to make it easy to parse comma-separated A_GIMME  
> args to an object as named args.  Thus for [someobject foo 1 2 3, bar 1  
> 2 3 4, blah bee], there should be a  function that can be used inside of  
> someobject_new for which the author can ask for the "foo" args and  
> retrieve "1 2 3" (maybe by returning the indices to the first and last  
> arg of "foo").  That will match the syntax of message boxes and give  
> external developers an easy and consistent way to do named args.
>
> All of my work will hopefully follow these guidelines:
> * does not break patches.  Question: while all changes I'm making will  
> let old Pd files run on revised Pd, do the files written by revised Pd  
> have to run on old Pd?
> * preference given to generally useful development.  (maybe [drawimage]  
> is an exception since few people use data structures, so I'll put that  
> one last.)
> * preference given to development that makes Pd more accessible to new  
> users.
>
> I'll look at the easiest ways to get the process rolling.  I really like  
> Paul Davis' donation "progress bar" on the Ardour website, so I might  
> try getting something like that on my website.
>
> Furthermore, if anyone has some general features they think are missing  
> from Pd and want to donate specifically for them, I'd be happy to look  
> at those too.  But for May at least I'd like to try to focus on what I'm  
> currently working on.
>
> I still need to figure out a good target to start out with and the  
> easiest payment system to use.  So suggestions are certainly welcome  
> about that or anything else. :)
>
> -Jonathan


-- 
Friedenstr. 58
10249 Berlin (Deutschland)
Tel +49 30 42020091 | Mob +49 162 6843570
Studio +49 30 69509190
jmmmpais at googlemail.com | skype: jmmmpjmmmp