#N canvas 144 162 632 551 12; #X msg 64 51 1; #X obj 89 150 + 1; #X obj 209 187 print x1; #X obj 64 209 print x3; #X obj 114 122 print x2; #X obj 209 100 + 1; #X obj 209 129 + 1; #X obj 209 158 + 1; #X obj 64 80 t f f f f; #X obj 89 179 print x2; #X text 34 13 In Pd \, message passing is depth first \, so that in this patch:; #X text 104 51 <-- click here; #X text 17 243 ... you get "x1" first \, notwidthstanding the fact that "x2" and "x3" appear to be closer to the source. This means that you shouldn't do this:; #X msg 76 304 1; #X text 116 304 <-- maybe you shouldn't click here; #X obj 115 334 + 1; #X obj 76 333 f; #X floatatom 76 365 0 0 0; #X text 377 520 updated for Pd version 0.34; #X text 35 393 ... because the "depth" is infinite. The counters you've seen always have the message chain terminated somewhere in a cold inlet: ; #X msg 75 453 1; #X obj 114 483 + 1; #X obj 75 482 f; #X floatatom 75 514 0 0 0; #X text 115 453 <-- better; #X connect 0 0 8 0; #X connect 1 0 9 0; #X connect 5 0 6 0; #X connect 6 0 7 0; #X connect 7 0 2 0; #X connect 8 0 3 0; #X connect 8 1 1 0; #X connect 8 2 4 0; #X connect 8 3 5 0; #X connect 13 0 16 0; #X connect 15 0 16 0; #X connect 16 0 17 0; #X connect 16 0 15 0; #X connect 20 0 22 0; #X connect 21 0 22 1; #X connect 22 0 23 0; #X connect 22 0 21 0;