On Aug 12, 2009, at 4:07 PM, Mathieu Bouchard wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
The idea of that section of the PdDefintions wiki is to collect all
bits of text that contribute to the definition of what is a symbol/ float/atom/etc. That's why there are many bits. If there is
anything missing please add it.In the Humanities, you can define abstract words the postmodern way,
collecting little bits and talking about a word until it acquires a
meaning. In a computer programme, it doesn't matter what the word
means to the users or even whether the users think of the thing as
being abstract: symbols and floats are very concrete things that
have very precise definitions that don't leave a lot of room for
interpretational variation.So I think we can leave the mosaïc of testimonies aside and just
read the source, so that we get back to what Pd is instead of what
we think it is.
Well, this defintion comes from the "object boxes" section, not
message boxes or messages. There is no discussion of messages in
the section where that is defined. But that's a minor detail. http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/Pd_documentation/x2.htm#s1.2Ah, well, when I read that, it never crossed my mind that I had to
look up the bibliographical reference to actually understand what's
written there. That's what I mean by "out of context"... the
PdDefinition page is unusually dependent on its bibliographical
references... doesn't stand on its own.
Just to clarify, you guys seem to be missing the point of that page.
The point was to gather all definitions in Miller's manual and in Pd
itself. Then, that's a basis to then come up with clearer definitions
and clearer implementations.
There does not seem to be one canonical source of definitions, the
source is also inconsistent in some places. The fact that these
definitions vary highlights that problem. If you think you can
improve on Frank and my attempts at clarifying things, please add a
wiki page and put your own definitions there. Also, if you find any
other relevant definitions, please add it to the main page.
http://puredata.info/dev/PdDefinitions
.hc
.hc
The arc of history bends towards justice. - Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.