On Sun, 15 Jan 2006, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
$ args are expandable arguments, whether in objects or in messages. You can break down everything in Pd to those two basic categories: objects and messages. When you want an expandable argument, then use a $ arg. Since objects and messages are different things, it makes sense that $ args don't expand to the same thing within objects and messages.
messageboxes are not messages. a messagebox is a t_object. a message is a selector and then zero or more t_atom arguments.
That seems nicely logical and compact to me. I think if people have trouble with that, they are likely not understanding the distinction between messages and objects rather than the $ args themselves.
Objects are constructed using a selector and a list of zero or more t_atom arguments. The text written in an objectbox is a message. The classname is a selector for a method in object ";objectmaker". A constructor is a message.
_ _ __ ___ _____ ________ _____________ _____________________ ... | Mathieu Bouchard - tél:+1.514.383.3801 - http://artengine.ca/matju | Freelance Digital Arts Engineer, Montréal QC Canada