Datastructure behaves exactly like C language, if all variables and functions are already writen on a paper or with merise or UML, like it would usually be done with a c or c++ program, variable naming and memory allocation becomes easier. In C this is exactly the same method for accessing a place in memory, traversing a template, from pointer to another, if you want to access directly a particular place in memory, use arrays instead. It's possible to change scalars with textfile like I suggested in my first message in this topic.
Patrice Colet
-------- Message d'origine -------- De : Roman Haefeli reduzent@gmail.com Date : 28/05/2013 9:57 (GMT+00:00) A : pd-list pd-list@iem.at Objet : Re: [PD] first exercise with data structures
Thanks for sharing your mind on the topic.
Probably this has already been covered as a limitation and may I haven't really understood it. There is one thing troubling me at the moment. From what I can see, you can easily get data out of your data structure. And for what I am trying, editing data manually/per GUI is quite easy. But how to set data programmatically, i.e. by message? As you can only change a certain scalar by setting a pointer to it, the only way I see is to traverse all scalars until you find the one you want to change. Is this currently the only way to change a property of a particular scalar?
Roman
On Sam, 2013-05-25 at 12:13 +0200, João Pais wrote:
jonathan already gave a smart reply to your question, using variable variables as delimiters in your polygons, you can vary everything. If you notice, in your first example you could vary the position of the individual array elements (because you don't have a fixed x distance), but you couldn't vary the position of the whole array - which wasn't necessary for now, but I just wanted to remark that.
I would add only something to your [setsize bar_struct bar_array] construct: in case you want to get a pointer of a specific template, use the template's name as argument e.g. [pointer bar_struct], and route the exit of the 2nd outlet to a [next(. That creates a loop that only stops when you get your pointer. if you have several scalars of the same template, adding a [get ...] to that loop makes it better (in case you have a sort of identifier for each scalar).
A not-so-efficient-as-Jonathan's example of dynamic polygons can be seen in my [jmmmp/bezier] abstraction (attached also the upcoming audio version). Inside my folder are a couple other abstractions using data structures (some new ones might appear only in the next pd-ext release).
I wouldn't say "don't bother with data structures", but rather "work a lot with it and make pressure so that they get improved". besides Jonathan's remarks, there are many other simple things that make life harder: lack of methods for simple operations (select previous pointer, or previous/next X pointers), math or expr functions inside of data-s templates (you need to get the data and then set it again), can't delete scalars without using the delete key or clearing the whole canvas, ... many small things that make one patch a lot just to make simple operations. and the biggest problem, rendering. don't even try to think of using data-s for any high-rate GUI. for that better to look at GEM.
looking at Miller's words, data structures was one of the main reasons to start Pd. after all this time, they didn't change that much.
very nice would be to have Ircam's FTM library implemented in Pd, but it seems to be an impossible task, someone has tried already.
On Fre, 2013-05-24 at 16:13 -0700, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
Here's a quickly made approach that uses quanta syntax and checks for mouse manipulations from the outlet of [struct].
Thanks a lot. A lot of new stuff (for me) in your example.
I wouldn't recommend spending too much time learning data structures. They are _extremely_ limited with the current implementation.
I appreciate your advice. I have the impression one finds out about the limitations only by diving into data structures a bit more deeply. Although I haven't a clear picture yet what is possible and what is not, I find some of the examples in Millers documentation quite intriguing.
Roman
----- Original Message ----- From: Roman Haefeli reduzent@gmail.com To: pd-list pd-list@iem.at Cc: Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 6:15 PM Subject: [PD] first exercise with data structures
Hi all
Finally an attempt to dive into data structures. I read Frank Barknecht's still excellent DS tutorial and, of course, section 4 of Pd's help written by Miller Puckette, which is a bit more demanding, but definitely very interesting. Though I can somewhat follow the simpler example patches, the fundamental concepts are still a bit nebulous.
Here's my problem. I found how to use [filledpolygon] to draw a rectangle whose width can be changed by mouse interaction. When using the same [struct] as the element of an array, I can draw many rectangles which can be grabbed and moved by the mouse (x-y-array). However, when it is used as an element, the ability to change the width dynamically with the mouse is lost. When it is not part of an array, it cannot be moved easily (without going into edit mode). How can I have both at the same time? Is it even possible at all?
Attached is an example that illustrates both cases.
Roman
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