[L2Ork-dev] Getting ready for GSoC coding to begin

[Jonathan Wilkes]

On Tue, Jun 2, 2020 at 5:58 PM Ivica Ico Bukvic <ico at vt.edu> wrote:
>
> So, I just tested the 2.11 and my findings regarding the changes in the select object are that this is worse than the previous implementation because now the select outputs cryptic error that no beginner will understand. Even for advanced users it provides misleading info as the select object treats bang message as a list (which it is not). Try the attached patch.

That horrible error appears to originate in pd_defaultanything which
AFAICT is just an error-handling branch for non-existent methods.

Unfortunately, a list with no arguments is handled by pd_defaultlist
and a bona fide "bang" message is handled by pd_defaultbang. So for an
object like [select], "bang"--[select] will take the pd_defaultbang
path to error with the "s"
argument set to "bang". Meanwhile, "list"---[select] ("list" is what
[route] outputs) will take the pd_defaultlist path to the same error
with "s" argument set to "list". Bleh.

Fortunately, pd_defaultanything also has argc and argv. So we could
just check there when s is "list" and argc is 0, and in that
case use "bang" as the method that caused the error.

That would fix this error not only for select but also for any other
situation where zero length lists get sent around
Pd. (Both [route] and the [list] objects will output zero-length
"list" to mean "bang".)

How about that?

-Jonathan

>
> I recommend that we reinstate the original select behavior and on top of that ensure that both the bang and symbol bang are treated as one and the same. I understand this kind of patch is not going to be common or useful, yet one cannot predict architectural choices a beginner may make (for better or for worse) and I am of the opinion that we should do all we can (without breaking the core purr-data behavior) to make things as easy as possible.
>
> Best,
>
> Ico
>
> On 5/29/2020 3:50 PM, Albert Graef wrote:
>
> On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 3:07 AM Jonathan Wilkes <jon.w.wilkes at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I bumped the minor version so it will be 2.11.0
>
>
> Great, thanks!
>
> --
> Dr. Albert Gr"af
> Computer Music Research Group, JGU Mainz, Germany
> Email: aggraef at gmail.com, web: https://agraef.github.io/
>
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> --
> Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
> Director, Creativity + Innovation
> Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology
>
> Virginia Tech
> Creative Technologies in Music
> School of Performing Arts – 0141
> Blacksburg, VA 24061
> (540) 231-6139
> ico at vt.edu
>
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>
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