Benefit: there would be a single preferences file format shared among all platforms. Cost:* currently the only platform that uses xml for preferences is OSX, and Pd relies on its proprietary, non-portable tool in order to read and save this file. So it would be necessary to write an XML parser for reading and writing in Pd, or bring in an XML library as a dependency.
- can't leverage any of Pd's current parsers or
use them as a guide. For example, the Pd message parser splits tokens on spaces-- the XML preferences file below doesn't fit that pattern-- the pd parser would interpret that first line as a single symbol atom.* the linux preferences file has long-standing code in Pd for reading/writing preference files. That would be thrown out to create a newer one that is more difficult to implement.
- without nested tags we lose most of
the power that XML would have provided. (For example, nested tags to make the values in "fontmetrics" self documenting.)
What are the practical problems with using the current format for the Pd preferences file under Linux?
-Jonathan
<rate>44100</rate>
<flags>-font-weight normal</flags><fontmetrics> 5 11 6 13 7 16 10 19 14 29 22 44</fontmetrics>
Mensaje telepatico asistido por maquinas.