On Thu, Sep 13, 2007 at 03:32:39PM +0200, Frank Barknecht wrote: > Hallo, > Frank Barknecht hat gesagt: // Frank Barknecht wrote: > > > This is a "me too"-message from me: For the same reasons as Thomas I'd > > prefer to stick with "object". While "class" is more correct, I think > > the difference is something only computer scientists are interested > > in and Pd has a tradition of not always following the path of > > mainstream computer science anyway, because it's not a tool mainly > > targetting computer scientists but one targetting artists. I'd say,, > > reserve the term class for pd-dev. > > It occured to me that it may sound like I'd try to "dumb down" Pd for > artists, which is not my intention, so I'd like to clarify a bit: > > We're talking about what term to use in pdpedia for the descriptions > of the available building blocks for patches, mainly externals and > abstractions. When building patches, what users (scientists and > artists) deal with, are objects. The only thing you can do with a > class when building a patch is to make an instance of it: an object of > the class. > > So in the pdpedia context using the term "object" for the list of > building blocks in my view wouldn't be wrong at all. As "object" also > is the term that is generally used when talking about Pd patches > here--as in: "Just put an [osc~] object into your patch to make a sine > wave." Nobody says: "Instantiate the [osc~] class to make a sine > wave."--it is perfectly valid to use "object/symbol" on pdpedia. IMO > at least.
Once again Frank provides the concise voice of reason! I agree with 100% with this in the case of pdpedia and most every day usages. However I see nothing wrong with establishing a rule of thumb for educators and other people describing pd, to follow when they do definately want to describe the "class of objects" of type [osc~] not just to say "put an [osc~] object into your patch" but for something more complicated, and call this the "object class" like Matju says. For example if someone is explaining about what externals are. That is a good and every-day intuitive use of the word "class" for normal people as well as being acceptable to us abnormal computer scientists (as Matju pointed out already). Best, Chris. ------------------- http://mccormick.cx _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
