[Pdmtl] Style guide contributions

[Luke Iannini]

Yo Matju

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 5:48 PM, Mathieu Bouchard <matju at artengine.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> On Sun, 10 Aug 2008, Luke Iannini wrote:
>
>> Yo Pdmtl
>
> If you are going to post to pdmtl, you should not set the "Reply-To" to
> pd-list. Many pdmtlers are not subscribed to pd-list, and for example, I'm
> not.
Whoops, sorry about this, my gmail-wide setting is clearly a heavy
handed one; I corrected it.

>
>> If giving $0 as an argument to an abstraction, it is always first in the
>> argument list. I think of this like emulating the "self" convention in
>> Python.
>
> "self" as first argument in Python it's not a convention, it's mandatory,
> because there are language mechanisms that assume that self is in the first
> position and not anywhere else. Yet, Python requires writing "self"
> explicitly in argument lists. I don't understand that, and they don't have
> Perl's excuse for doing that, they designed it like that.
>
> And then, giving $0 as an argument to an abstraction, is more like passing
> your "self" as an argument to a "new", which, frankly, even in Python, could
> be in any argument position, for any reason whatsoever. You could say that
> it's preferable to put it early in the list, but there are many reasons it
> could be elsewhere.
>
Yea, I'm already convinced this was not a useful entry (just as a
note, the "convention" portion referred to the fact that using the
name "self" is a convention, you can name it "hamburger" if you want).
 I left it out of the "primordial style guide".

>> Finally, I plan to have a series of "ratifications" on various topics when
>> necessary (e.g. naming conventions etc.), so, if you're all for it, I'd love
>> to include you guys in those
>
> Well, don't expect that the said "ratifications" will affect the style of
> any person other than on those who have "signed" them, and even then, if
> it's not a real signature, you can expect that those people will follow only
> the items that they agree with and skip the rest.
>
Yip, I'm certainly aware of this - the only goal I have is to set out
a guide for those uninterested in inventing their own arbitrary
conventions when just starting the language, so that some day in the
future we have a useful and meaningful consistency (and, for those who
think that's useful, to use).  But, that is why I invite the advice of
experienced Pd-users, since I think the conventions they've developed
for themselves probably have good reasons. (and, please understand the
term "ratification" as a joke given the nature of the Pd community)

Thanks for the comments
Best
Luke