Looking at the source and ... writing externals, I have following questions:

is there a concept of a "string" as an atom ?

in max, there is a fts_String there are among other the arg types:

(... fts_Symbol argument must be of type FTS_SYM, initialized with fts_set_symbol fts_String argument must be of type FTS_STRING, initialized with fts_set_string

...)[The FTS Message System Programmer Guide]

in pd I see nothing simular. How is this handled in pd ?

• I would prefer to throw the concept of strings, because they

always got mixed up with symbols when routing etc... and there is no need for differentiate this, exept symbols has to be stored in symbol tables (hash tables), but anyway if text element appears I can handle them like strings in my objects.

                                   mfg winfried 

--- DI Winfried Ritsch - ritsch@iem.mhsg.ac.at --- INSTITUT FUER ELEKTRONISCHE MUSIK- University of Music and Dramatic Art Tel. ++43-316-389-7210, Fax.++43-316-389-7008