path: root/pd/src/notes.txt

---------------- dolist --------------------

fix for 0.37:
read xx.txt in "bad" gives warnings
mess with RME ALSA some more; ALSA readn doesn't work yet.
test MIDI I/O on all platforms, inc. sysex...
windows quit doesn't confirm on Windows?
check Pd in OSX 10.3

0.38:
document env~ second argument (and why is it no less than 1/10 of first???)
make watchdog work for MACOSX
%x to %lx in all "tags" to make 64-bit safe
plug-in support
portaudio_pd files into src
settings saver (registry in Windows; .pdrc in linux; defaults system in OSX?)
text cut/copy/paste
GOP bounding box object
signal inlets to sense signals; fix +~ etc, vcf~, biquad~, and make a vcfb~

makefile to set SETUID bit on install?
loading e-mailed patches without removing headers crashes pd
investigate gcc 3.3 warnings; try to reinstate -fstrict-aliasing
message dialog not to disappear
sprout inlets/outlets on objects whose creation failed.
pd $1 bug ($1 is saved as it was evaluated, not as '$1')
why does changing the name of an explode in jupiter patch take so long?
close-subwindows menu item
trouble typing into number boxes
abstraction reload doesn't have to vis everyone??
show results of opening audio and MIDI on dialogs
windows escape from control-C
add standard bindings (ctl-o, etc) to dialogs
settable netsend and netreceive port numbers
suspend/resume graphics updates
scheduler to handle callbacks
scheduler to do DSP computations even if no audio
hook to scheduler to let others get called for DSP I/O
new: mline~, msnapshot~, abs~
flags to defeat adding specified classes from libraries
incorporate pddp doc
try again to fix the font scene
addcomma message to message
pasting should look at current mouse location
open/save panel to take messages to init directory
look at prctl(2) for FP exception handling

problems:
qlist - 'next 1' seems not to work
arrays of non-existent templates crash
don't draw in/outlets on gui objects in graphs
Alsa degradation after several hours running on soundblaster
font size should depend on subpatch/abstraction
moving a bang toward top of window creates problem
figure out O_NDELAY for linux audio?
missed Thomas's multi-dialog trick???
check what happens when going back and forth between graph-on-parent
deal with spaces in iemgui labels and send/receive names
get rid of messages causing renaming; try to prevent patches closing themselves.
Krzysztof's qlist_next reentrancy bug
dac~/ adc~/ block~ incompatibility
scofo reports error on reading score1.txt
data copy/paste doesn't check templates aren't changed
rfft~ loses nyquist bin -- see "to hell with it" comment in d_fft.c

data:
allow field*2+5 etc. in drawing commands
vget, vset traversal objects
cursor to show (x, y) location
better hit detection (getrect is too greedy)
click on points of plot
typing at drawnumbers
fix templates to be loaded on demand and belong to a globally known patch
test and debug list elements of templates
sublists should display on parent if desired?
sublists seem not to handle canvas allocation right (get.pd->pointer.pd bug)
scalar hook to catch the mouse
protect against "plots" going away while you drag on them
figure out why Pd sometimes crashes when you close example after adding fields

features:
command line flag to defeat loading objects
signal inlets with initialized values...
flag to hide array names 
??? have a way to disambiguate externs from different libs???
put serial object in main dist (see rat@telecoma, Apr. 25; winfried May 22)
if there's just one array, don't do stringent hit check.
netsend separate thread
netreceive (and netsend?) message to set port number
delete-in-rectangle message to Pds
make selecting text grab keyboard focus
think about x and y scale preservation when changing between graph and object
show outlines of objects even when graph is "open"
make graph labels persistent and add to dialog
array click protection (Krzysztof's suggestion)
increase MIDIQSIZE to at least 1024 in s_unix.c
add nonblock to linux open calls instead of using alarm
graph_vis() to decorate graphs when they're toplevel (parent_glist == 0)
get graphs to expand to hold their contents
suita.chopin.edu.pl/~czaja/miXed/externs/xeq.html -- MIDI file reader
in glist_delete, consider why this can't be just "vis 0" -- why do we need it?
abstraction auto-reload
closebang
switching between dac and gettimeofday timing on dsp_start/stop
check that -blocksize really reflects in audiobuf calc for Hammerfall
-version to print version and exit; usage() also to print version
NT and OSX: opening HTML files?
MIDI file reading/writing?
makefile to have make install depend on make local.
pd messages to close and reopen sound driver
Float method for random
figure out list, message objects
separate control over alsaindev and alsaoutdev
pd -version
make "import"/export use IEMLIB objects
object to get/set table size; random; quantile
put in something for tilde order forcing
extensible "toolbar" so people can add external GUI objects
text cut and paste; see XStoreBytes
new objects: nexttick~, extend threshold~ and snapshot~
allow spaces in paths
gem: try XSetBorderWidth, XMoveWindow, xcopyarea (/usr/share/doc/XF*)
dialog for audio and MIDI settings
prepend help to help filenames and add help search path
read/writesf~ for NT
variable send and receive -- check how max/MSP does it?
number boxes to darken for typing and/or received messages
delayed updates
invisible toplevels
dialog to change lib flag and path
fastedit moves
pique~ and fiddle~ unification (notice pique filtering is different!)
new message box look
figure out what to do when "pd sym" conflicts with window title as in Pluton?

MAX compatibilty:
trigger 1 (on Pd, outputs 0; on Max?)

LATER
Hammerfall adapt to ALSA
+~ 0 faster than +~ -- detect scalar input; also, order forcing inputs
bonk~ file path handling
unify arrays and garrays
dialog to give values of $1, ... for the canvas
bang at end of line~, tabwrite~, etc.
recording to part of a table
printout to main window
should sys_bail kill all "threads" on the way out?
check a_valid usage
allow backslashes (or else really disallow them)
icon & desktop integration
vreadsf~
benchmarking
flash menu when accelerator hits?
fix edit mode menu item
fancier text editing
tools (reassigns meaning of primary click)
get gui to notice early EOF
rewrite t_getbytes properly
obj_new should do a longjmp on out-of-memory

--------------------- source notes --------------------------

0.  structure definition roadmap.  First, the containment tree of things
that can be sent messages ("pure data").  (note that t_object and t_text,
and t_graph and t_canvas, should be unified...)

------------ BFFORE 0.35: ---------
m_pd.h	    t_pd    	    	    anything with a class
    	    	t_gobj	    	    "graphic object"
    	    	    t_text  	    text object
g_canvas.h  
    	    	    t_glist 	    list of graphic objects
g_canvas.c  	    	t_canvas    Pd "document"

------------ AFTER 0.35: ---------
m_pd.h	    t_pd    	    	    anything with a class
    	    	t_gobj	    	    "graphic object"
    	    	    t_text  	    patchable object, AKA t_object
g_canvas.h     	    	t_glist     list of graphic objects, AKA t_canvas

... and other structures:
g_canvas.h  t_selection -- linked list of gobjs
    	    t_editor -- editor state, allocated for visible glists
m_imp.h     t_methodentry -- method handler
    	    t_widgetbehavior -- class-dependent editing behavior for gobjs
    	    t_parentwidgetbehavior -- objects' behavior on parent window
    	    t_class -- method definitions, instance size, flags, etc.


1.  C coding style.  The source should pass most "warnings" of C compilers
(-Wall on linux, for instance; see the makefile.)  Some informalities
are intentional, for instance the loose use of function prototypes (see
below) and uncast conversions from longer to shorter numerical formats.
The code doesn't respect "const" yet.

1.1.  Prefixes in structure elements.  The names of structure elements always
have a K&R-style prefix, as in ((t_atom)x)->a_type, where the "a_" prefix
indicates "atom."  This is intended to enhance readability (although the
convention arose from a limitation of early C compilers.)  Common prefixes are
"w_" (word), "a_" (atom), "s_" (symbol), "ob_" (object), "te_" (text object),
"g_" (graphical object), and "gl_" (glist, a list of graphical objects).  Also,
global symbols sometimes get prefixes, as in "s_float" (the symbol whose string
is "float).  Typedefs are prefixed by "t_".  Most _private_ structures, i.e.,
structures whose definitions appear in a ".c" file, are prefixed by "x_".

1.2.   Function arguments.  Many functions take as their first
argument a pointer named "x", which is a pointer to a structure suggested
by the function prefix; e.g., canvas_dirty(x, n) where "x" points to a canvas
(t_canvas *x).

1.3.  Function Prototypes.  Functions which are used in at least two different
files (besides where they originate) are prototyped in the appropriate include
file. Functions which are provided in one file and used in one other are
prototyped right where they are used.  This is just to keep the size of the
".h" files down for readability's sake.

1.4.  Whacko private terminology.  Some terms are lifted from other historically
relevant programs, notably "ugen" (which is just a tilde object; see d_ugen.c.)

1.5.  Spacing.  Tabs are 8 spaces; indentation is 4 spaces.  Indenting
curly brackets are by themselves on their own lines, as in:

    if (x)
    {
	x = 0;
    }

Lines should fit within 80 spaces.

2.  Max patch-level compatibility.  "Import" and "Export" functions are
provided which aspire to strict compatibility with 0.26 patches (ISPW version),
but which don't get anywhere close to that yet.  Where possible, features
appearing on the Mac will comeday also be provided; for instance, the connect
message on the Mac offers segmented patch cords; these will devolve into
straight lines in Pd.  Many, many UI objects in Opcode Max will not appear in
Pd, at least at first.

3.  Compatibility with Max 0.26 "externs", i.e., source-level compatibility. Pd
objects follow the style of 0.26 objects as closely as possible, making
exceptions in cases where the 0.26 model is clearly deficient.  These are:

3.1.  Anything involving the MacIntosh "Handle" data type is changed to use
char * or void * instead.

3.2.  Pd passes true single-precision floating-point arguments to methods;
Max uses double.
Typedefs are provided:
    t_floatarg, t_intarg for arguments passed by the message system
    t_float, t_int for the "word" union (in atoms, for example.)

3.3.  Badly-named entities got name changes:

    w_long --> w_int (in the "union word" structure)

3.4.  Many library functions are renamed and have different arguments;
I hope to provide an include file to alias them when compiling Max externs.

4.  Function name prefixes.
Many function names have prefixes which indicate what "package" they belong
to.  The exceptions are:
    typedmess, vmess, getfn, gensym (m_class.c)
    getbytes, freebytes, resizebytes (m_memory.c)
    post, error, bug (s_print.c)
which are all frequently called and which don't fit into simple categories.
Important packages are:
(pd-gui:)   pdgui -- everything
(pd:)	    pd -- functions common to all "pd" objects
    	    obj -- fuctions common to all "patchable" objects ala Max
    	    sys -- "system" level functions
    	    binbuf -- functions manipulating binbufs
    	    class -- functions manipulating classes
    	    (other) -- functions common to the named Pd class

5. Source file prefixes. 
PD:
s    system interface
m    message system
g    graphics stuff
d    DSP objects
x    control objects
z    other

PD-GUI:
t    TK front end