
===================================
pd-pure: Pd loader for Pure scripts
===================================

Version 0.16, |today|

Albert Graef <Dr.Graef@t-online.de>

This is a Pd_ loader plugin for the Pure programming language which lets you
write external Pd objects in Pure.

.. _Pd: http://puredata.info/

Please note that the present version of the module is still somewhat
experimental, but it seems to work fairly well at least with Pure versions
0.34 and later. In particular, note that Pure is a *compiled* language and
thus there are some inevitable latencies at startup, when the embedded Pure
interpreter loads your Pure scripts and compiles them on the fly. However,
once the scripts have been compiled, they are executed very efficiently. As of
pd-pure 0.15, it is also possible to *precompile* a collection of Pure objects
to a library in binary format which can be loaded much faster with Pd's
``-lib`` option. (This requires Pure 0.50 or later.)

.. only:: html

   .. contents:: :local:


Copying
=======

Copyright (c) 2009-2011 by Albert Graef. pd-pure is distributed under a
3-clause BSD-style license, please see the included COPYING file for details.

Installation
============

MS Windows users please see `pd-pure on Windows`_ below.

Get the latest source from
http://pure-lang.googlecode.com/files/pd-pure-0.16.tar.gz.

Usually, ``make && sudo make install`` should do the trick. This will compile
the external (you need to have GNU make, Pd and Pure installed to do that) and
install it in the lib/pd/extra/pure directory.

The Makefile tries to guess the installation prefix under which Pd is
installed. If it guesses wrong, you can tell it the right prefix with ``make
prefix=/some/path``. Or you can specify the exact path of the lib/pd directory
with ``make pdlibdir=/some/path``; by default the Makefile assumes
``$(prefix)/lib/pd``.

It is also possible to specify an alternative flavour of Pd when building and
installing the module, by adding a definition like ``PD=pd-extended`` to the
``make`` command line. This is known to work with pd-extended_ and pd-l2ork_,
two popular alternative Pd distributions available on the web.

.. _pd-extended: http://puredata.info/downloads/pd-extended
.. _pd-l2ork: http://l2ork.music.vt.edu/main/?page_id=56

The Makefile also tries to guess the host system type and Pure version, and
set up some platform-specific things accordingly. If this doesn't work for
your system then you'll have to edit the Makefile accordingly.

pd-pure on Windows
------------------

There's a binary package in MSI format available at the Pure website:
http://pure-lang.googlecode.com/files/pd-pure-0.16.msi. Use that if you
can. You'll also need the latest Pure version (0.50 at the time of this
writing), and Pd 0.43 or later, which is available from Miller Puckette's
website: http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html.

Usage
=====

After installation, you still have to tell Pd to load the Pure external at
startup, either with the ``-lib`` option (``pd -lib pure``), or by specifying
``pure`` in the File/Startup options (Media/Preferences/Startup in Pd 0.43 and
later). This setting can be saved so that the Pure loader is always available
when you run Pd. Once the Pure loader has been installed, you should see a
message in the Pd main window indicating that the external has been loaded.

Since version 0.12 pd-pure supports the definition of both `control` and
`audio objects` in Pure. The latter are also known as "tilde objects" in Pd
parlance; pd-pure follows the Pd convention in that audio objects have a
trailing tilde in their name. Audio objects are used primarily for processing
audio signals, whereas control objects are employed for asynchronous message
processing.

Simple "one-off" control objects can be created with the ``[pure]`` class
which takes the function to be evaluated as its argument. For instance::

  [pure (+5)]

This object takes numbers as inputs on its single inlet, adds 5 to them and
outputs the result on its single outlet.

Similarly, audio objects can be created with ``[pure~]``. For instance, the
following object processes incoming vectors of samples, multiplying each
sample with 2::

  [pure~ map (*2)]

Note that in this case the object has actually two inlet/outlet pairs. The
leftmost inlet/outlet pair is reserved for the processing of control messages
(not used in this example), while the actual signal input and output can be
found on the right.

(Pure objects can also be configured to adjust the number of inlets and
outlets. This will be described later.)

The argument of ``[pure]`` and ``[pure~]`` can be any Pure expression
(including local functions and variables, conditionals, etc.). We also refer
to these as `anonymous` Pure objects. If an object is quite complicated or
used several times in a patch, it is more convenient to implement it as a
`named` object instead. To these ends, the object function is stored in a
corresponding Pure script named after the object. For instance, we might put
the following ``add`` function into a script named add.pure::

  add x y = x+y;

Now we can use the following object in a Pd patch::

  [add 5]

The Pure loader then recognizes ``add`` as an instance of the object
implemented by the add.pure file and loads the script into the Pure
interpreter. The creation parameter ``5`` is passed as the first argument
``x`` of the ``add`` function in this example, while the ``y`` argument comes
from the object's inlet. The function performed by this object is thus the
same as with ``[pure (+5)]`` above.

More examples can be found in the pure-help.pd and pure~-help.pd patches.
These can also be accessed in Pd by right-clicking on any Pure object and
selecting the ``Help`` option. (Recent pd-pure versions also allow you to
right-click and select ``Open`` to open the script of a named Pure object in a
text editor, provided that your Pd version supports the ``menu-open``
command.)

In the following section, we first discuss in detail how `control objects`_
are defined and used. After that, the necessary adjustments for implementing
`audio objects`_ are explained. Some advanced uses of pd-pure are described
under `Advanced Features`_.

Control Objects
===============

Basically, to implement a Pd control object named ``foo``, all you have to do
is supply a Pure script named foo.pure which defines a function ``foo`` (and
anything else that you might need to define the function). This function is
also called the `object function`. You can put the script containing the
object function in the same directory as the Pd patch in which you want to use
the ``foo`` object, or anywhere on Pd's search path. (The latter is useful if
the object is to be used in several patches located in different
subdirectories.) The script will be executed once, at the time the first
object with the given name is created, and will be executed in the directory
where it is located. Thus, if the script needs to import other Pure scripts or
load some data files, you can put these into the same directory so that the
object script can find them.

The ``foo`` function gets evaluated at object creation time, receiving any
additional parameters the object is created with. The resulting Pure
expression should be another function which is executed at runtime, passing Pd
messages from the inlets as parameters, and routing the function results to
the outlets of the object. This two-stage definition process is useful because
it allows special processing (such as initialization of required data
structures) to be done at object creation time. However, the result of
evaluating ``foo`` can also just be ``foo`` itself if no such special
processing is needed. If we need to distinguish these two stages, we also call
the two functions the `creation` and the `runtime` function of the object,
respectively.

Pd messages are translated to corresponding Pure expressions and vice versa in
a straightforward fashion. Special support is provided for converting between
the natural Pd and Pure representations of floating point numbers, symbols and
lists. The following table summarizes the available conversions.

=============    ===============    ==================
Message Type     Pd                 Pure
=============    ===============    ==================
symbol           ``foo``            ``foo``
string           ``a&b``            ``"a&b"``
float            ``float 1.23``     ``1.23``
list             ``list 1 2 3``     ``[1.0,2.0,3.0]``
other            ``foo a 2 3``      ``foo a 2.0 3.0``
=============    ===============    ==================

Note that Pd symbols which are no valid Pure symbols become strings in
Pure. Conversely, both symbols and strings in Pure are mapped to corresponding
Pd symbols. Pure (machine) integers and floating point values both become
``float`` messages in Pd. Pd list messages are translated to Pure list values,
while other aggregate messages are mapped to Pure applications (and vice
versa).

Simple Objects
--------------

By default, a Pure object has just one inlet and one outlet and thus acts like
a simple function with no internal state. For instance, the following object
accepts Pd ``float`` messages and adds 5 to each received value::

  add5 x = x+5;

In the Pd patch each ``[add5]`` object then has a single inlet supplying
parameters and a single outlet for results of the add5 function.

Creation Arguments
------------------

You can parameterize an object with creation arguments, which are passed to
the Pure function at object creation time. For instance::

  add x y = x+y;

This object can then be invoked, e.g., as ``[add 5]`` in the Pd patch to
supply the needed creation argument ``x``.

The [pure] Object
-----------------

For simple kinds of objects like the above, the Pure loader provides the
generic ``[pure]`` object as a quick means to create Pure control objects
without actually preparing a script file. The creation parameter of ``[pure]``
is the object function. This can be a predefined Pure function, or you can
define it on the fly in a ``with`` clause. (It is also possible to explicitly
load additional script files needed to implement objects defined using
``[pure]``; see `Controlling the Runtime`_ for details.)

For instance, ``[pure succ]`` uses the predefined Pure function ``succ`` which
adds 1 to its input, while the object ``[pure add 5 with add x y = x+y end]``
produces the same results as the ``[add 5]`` object defined using a separate
add.pure script in the previous section. You can also generate constant values
that way. E.g., the object ``[pure cst 1.618]`` responds to any message (such
as ``bang``) by producing the constant value 1.618, while the object ``[pure
cst [1..10]]`` yields the constant list containing the numbers 1..10.

Configuring Inlets and Outlets
------------------------------

To create an object with multiple inlets and outlets for control messages, the
object creation function must return the desired numbers of inlets and
outlets, along with a second function to be applied at runtime, as a tuple
``n,m,foo``. The input arguments to the runtime function as well as the
corresponding function results are then encoded as pairs ``k,val`` where ``k``
denotes the inlet or outlet index. (Note that the ``k`` index is provided only
if there actually is more than one inlet. Also, the outlet index is assumed to
be zero if none is specified, so that it can be omitted if there's only one
outlet.)

For instance, the following object, invoked as ``[cross]`` in the Pd patch,
has two inlets and two outlets and routes messages from the left inlet to the
right outlet and vice versa::

  cross = 2,2,cross with cross (k,x) = (1-k,x) end;

You can also emit multiple messages, possibly to different outlets, in one
go. These must be encoded as Pure vectors (or matrices) of values or
``index,value`` pairs, which are emitted in the order in which they are
written. E.g., the following ``[fan]`` object implements an "n-fan" which
routes its input to ``n`` outlets simultaneously::

  fan n = 1,n,fan with fan x = reverse {k,x | k = 0..n-1} end;

(Note that, because of the use of ``reverse``, the ``n`` outlets are served in
right-to-left order here. This is not strictly necessary, but matches the Pd
convention.)

Another example is the following ``[dup]`` object with a single inlet and
outlet, which just sends out each received message twice::

  dup x = {x,x};

Note that this is different from the following, which outputs a list value to
the outlet instead::

  dup2 x = [x,x];

(Also, please note that this behaviour is new in pd-pure 0.14. Previously, a
list return value by itself would output multiple values instead. However,
this made it very awkward to deal with Pd list values in pd-pure, and so as
of pd-pure 0.14 Pure matrices must now be used to output multiple values.)

An object can also just "swallow" messages and generate no output at all. To
these ends, make the object return either an empty vector ``{}`` or the empty
tuple ``()``. (Note that, in contrast, returning the empty list ``[]`` does
send a value back to Pd, namely an empty list value.) For instance, the
following object ``[echo]`` implements a sink which just prints received
messages on standard output, which is useful for debugging purposes::

  using system;
  echo x = () when puts (str x) end;

You could also implement this object as follows, by just removing the
superflous outlet (in this case all return values from the function will be
ignored anyway)::

  using system;
  echo = 1,0,puts.str;

Local State
-----------

Local state can be kept in Pure reference values. For instance, the following
``[counter]`` object produces the next counter value when receiving a ``bang``
message::

  nonfix bang;
  counter = next (ref 0) with
    next r bang = put r (get r+1);
    next _ _    = () otherwise;
  end;

Note that the state is kept as an additional first parameter to the local
function ``next`` here. Alternatively, you can also make the state a local
variable of ``counter``::

  nonfix bang;
  counter = next with
    next bang = put r (get r+1);
    next _    = () otherwise;
  end when r = ref 0 end;

Audio Objects
=============

If the name of a Pure object (i.e., the basename of the corresponding Pure
script) ends with the ``~`` character, pd-pure assumes that it denotes an
audio object whose primary purpose is to process sample data. The basic setup
is similar to the case of control objects, with the following differences:

* The object function for an audio object ``xyz~`` is named ``xyz_dsp``
  (rather than ``xyz``). The function is defined in the ``xyz~.pure`` script
  file, which must be located in the same directory as the Pd patch or
  anywhere on Pd's search path.

* To keep things simple, a Pure audio object is always equipped with exactly
  one control inlet and one control outlet, which are the leftmost inlet and
  outlet of the object. These can be used to process control messages in the
  usual fashion, in addition to the audio processing performed by the object.

* Any additional inlets and outlets of the object are signal inlets and
  outlets. By default, one signal inlet/outlet pair will be provided.
  Configuring a custom number of signal inlets and outlets works as with
  control objects. In this case the object creation function must return a
  triple ``n,m,foo`` where ``n`` and ``m`` are the desired number of signal
  inlets and outlets, respectively, and ``foo`` is the actual processing
  function to be invoked at runtime.

Whenever Pd has audio processing enabled, the object function is invoked with
one block of sample data for each iteration of Pd's audio loop. The sample
data is encoded as a double matrix which has one row for each signal inlet of
the object; row 0 holds the sample data for the first signal inlet, row 1 the
sample data for the second signal inlet, etc. The row size corresponds to Pd's
`block size` which indicates how many samples per signal connection is
processed in one go for each iteration of the audio loop. (Usually the default
block size is 64, but this can be changed with Pd's ``-blocksize`` option and
also on a per-window basis using the ``block~`` object, see the Pd
documentation for details.) Note that the input matrix will have zero rows if
the object has zero signal inlets, in which case the row size of the matrix
(as reported by the :pure:func:`dim` function) still indicates the block size.

When invoked with a signal matrix as argument, the object function should
return another double matrix with the resulting sample data for the signal
outlets of the object, which normally has one row per outlet and the same row
size as the input matrix. (A lack or surplus of samples in the output matrix
is handled gracefully, however. Missing samples are filled with zeros, while
extra samples are silently ignored.)

For instance, here's a simple object with the default single signal
inlet/outlet pair (in addition to the leftmost control inlet/outlet pair,
which isn't used in this example). This object just multiplies its input signal
by 2::

  mul2_dsp x::matrix = map (*2) x;

This code would then be placed into a script file named ``mul2~.dsp`` and
invoked in Pd as an object of the form ``[mul2~]``.

As with control objects, there's a shortcut to create simple objects like
these without preparing a script file, using the built-in ``[pure~]`` object.
Thus the dsp function in the previous example could also be implemented using
an object of the form ``[pure~ map (*2)]`` (which uses the same function,
albeit in curried form).

Creation parameters can also be used in the same way as with control objects.
The following object is to be invoked in Pd as ``[mul~ f]`` where ``f`` is the
desired gain factor. ::

  mul_dsp f::double x::matrix = map (*f) x;

Next, let's try a custom number of signal inlets and outlets. The following
object has two signal inlets and one signal outlet. Like Pd's built-in
``[*~]`` object, it multiplies the two input signals, producing an amplitude
(or ring) modulation effect::

  sigmul_dsp = 2,1,sigmul with
    sigmul x::matrix = zipwith (*) (row x 0) (row x 1);
  end;

Here's another example which takes no inputs and produces one output signal, a
random wave (i.e., white noise). Note the use of the :pure:func:`dim` function
to determine the number of samples to be generated for each block. ::

  extern double genrand_real1() = random1;
  randomwave1_dsp = 0,1,randomwave with
    randomwave in::matrix = {random | i=1..n} when _,n = dim in end;
    random = random1*2-1;
  end;

Control messages for the control outlet of the object may be added by
returning a pair ``sig,msg`` where ``sig`` is the output signal matrix and
``msg`` is a single control message or vector of such messages (using the same
format as with control objects). The signal matrix can also be omitted if no
signal output is needed (unless the control data takes the form of a double
matrix, which would be interpreted as signal data; in such a case you'd have
to specify an empty signal matrix instead). The object function may also
return ``()`` if neither signal nor control output is required. (This may be
the case, e.g., for dsps which just analyze the incoming signal data and store
the results somewhere for later retrieval.)

Audio objects can also process control messages and generate responses on the
leftmost inlet/outlet pair as usual. This is commonly used to set and retrieve
various control parameters used or generated by the audio processing part of
the object.

For instance, here is an audio object which plays back a soundfile using the
:mod:`sndfile` module (cf. :doc:`pure-audio`). The object function reads the
entire file (whose name is passed as a creation argument) at creation time and
turns over processing to the ``playsf`` function which returns one block of
samples from the file (along with the current position of the playback
pointer) for each invocation with an (empty) input matrix. In addition, a
``bang`` message is output when the end of the file is reached. The object
also responds to floating point values in the range from 0 to 1 on the control
inlet by adjusting the playback pointer accordingly. ::

  using sndfile;

  nonfix bang;

  playsf_dsp name = 0,nchannels,playsf with
    // Play one block of samples. Also output a number in the range 0..1 on the
    // control outlet to indicate the current position.
    playsf x::matrix = block,get pos/nsamples when
      _,n = dim x; block = submat buf (0,get pos) (nchannels,n);
      put pos (get pos+n);
    end if get pos>=0 && get pos<=nsamples;
    // Output a bang once to indicate that we're done.
    playsf x::matrix = bang when
      _,n = dim x; put pos (-1);
    end if get pos>=0;
    playsf _::matrix = ();
    // A number in the range 0..1 places the playback pointer accordingly.
    playsf x::double = put pos $ int $ round $ x*nsamples $$ ();
  end when
    // Open the audio file for reading.
    info = sf_info (); sf = sf_open name SFM_READ info;
    // Get some information about the file.
    nsamples,rate,nchannels,_ = sf_get_info info;
    nsamples = int nsamples;
    // Read the file into memory.
    buf = dmatrix (nsamples,nchannels);
    nsamples = int $ sf_readf_double sf buf nsamples;
    // Convert interleaved samples (nsamples x nchannels) to one channel per row
    // (nchannels x nsamples).
    buf = transpose buf;
    // Initialize the playback pointer:
    pos = ref 0;
  end;

As another example, here's a complete stereo amplifier stage with bass,
treble, gain and balance controls and a dB meter. The dsp part is implemented
in Faust_, Grame's functional dsp programming language. The Pure program just
does the necessary interfacing to Pd, which includes processing of incoming
control messages for setting the control parameters of the Faust dsp, and the
generation of output control messages to send the dB meter values (also
computed in the Faust dsp) to Pd. (To run this example, you need the "faust2"
branch of the Faust compiler so that the dsp can be inlined into the Pure
program. Note that the entire section inside the ``%< %>`` braces is Faust
code.)

.. _Faust: http://faudiostream.sf.net/

::

  %< -*- dsp:amp -*-

  import("math.lib");
  import("music.lib");

  /* Fixed bass and treble frequencies. You might want to tune these for your
     setup. */

  bass_freq       = 300;
  treble_freq     = 1200;

  /* Bass and treble gain controls in dB. The range of +/-20 corresponds to a
     boost/cut factor of 10. */

  bass_gain       = nentry("bass", 0, -20, 20, 0.1);
  treble_gain     = nentry("treble", 0, -20, 20, 0.1);

  /* Gain and balance controls. */

  gain            = db2linear(nentry("gain", 0, -96, 96, 0.1));
  bal             = hslider("balance", 0, -1, 1, 0.001);

  /* Balance a stereo signal by attenuating the left channel if balance is on
     the right and vice versa. I found that a linear control works best here. */

  balance         = *(1-max(0,bal)), *(1-max(0,0-bal));

  /* Generic biquad filter. */

  filter(b0,b1,b2,a0,a1,a2)       = f : (+ ~ g)
  with {
          f(x)    = (b0/a0)*x+(b1/a0)*x'+(b2/a0)*x'';
          g(y)    = 0-(a1/a0)*y-(a2/a0)*y';
  };

  /* Low and high shelf filters, straight from Robert Bristow-Johnson's "Audio
     EQ Cookbook", see http://www.musicdsp.org/files/Audio-EQ-Cookbook.txt. f0
     is the shelf midpoint frequency, g the desired gain in dB. S is the shelf
     slope parameter, we always set that to 1 here. */

  low_shelf(f0,g)         = filter(b0,b1,b2,a0,a1,a2)
  with {
          S  = 1;
          A  = pow(10,g/40);
          w0 = 2*PI*f0/SR;
          alpha = sin(w0)/2 * sqrt( (A + 1/A)*(1/S - 1) + 2 );

          b0 =    A*( (A+1) - (A-1)*cos(w0) + 2*sqrt(A)*alpha );
          b1 =  2*A*( (A-1) - (A+1)*cos(w0)                   );
          b2 =    A*( (A+1) - (A-1)*cos(w0) - 2*sqrt(A)*alpha );
          a0 =        (A+1) + (A-1)*cos(w0) + 2*sqrt(A)*alpha;
          a1 =   -2*( (A-1) + (A+1)*cos(w0)                   );
          a2 =        (A+1) + (A-1)*cos(w0) - 2*sqrt(A)*alpha;
  };

  high_shelf(f0,g)        = filter(b0,b1,b2,a0,a1,a2)
  with {
          S  = 1;
          A  = pow(10,g/40);
          w0 = 2*PI*f0/SR;
          alpha = sin(w0)/2 * sqrt( (A + 1/A)*(1/S - 1) + 2 );

          b0 =    A*( (A+1) + (A-1)*cos(w0) + 2*sqrt(A)*alpha );
          b1 = -2*A*( (A-1) + (A+1)*cos(w0)                   );
          b2 =    A*( (A+1) + (A-1)*cos(w0) - 2*sqrt(A)*alpha );
          a0 =        (A+1) - (A-1)*cos(w0) + 2*sqrt(A)*alpha;
          a1 =    2*( (A-1) - (A+1)*cos(w0)                   );
          a2 =        (A+1) - (A-1)*cos(w0) - 2*sqrt(A)*alpha;
  };

  /* The tone control. We simply run a low and a high shelf in series here. */

  tone            = low_shelf(bass_freq,bass_gain)
                  : high_shelf(treble_freq,treble_gain);

  /* Envelop follower. This is basically a 1 pole LP with configurable attack/
     release time. The result is converted to dB. You have to set the desired
     attack/release time in seconds using the t parameter below. */

  t               = 0.1;                  // attack/release time in seconds
  g               = exp(-1/(SR*t));       // corresponding gain factor

  env             = abs : *(1-g) : + ~ *(g) : linear2db;

  /* Use this if you want the RMS instead. Note that this doesn't really
     calculate an RMS value (you'd need an FIR for that), but in practice our
     simple 1 pole IIR filter works just as well. */

  rms             = sqr : *(1-g) : + ~ *(g) : sqrt : linear2db;
  sqr(x)          = x*x;

  /* The dB meters for left and right channel. These are passive controls. */

  left_meter(x)   = attach(x, env(x) : hbargraph("left", -96, 10));
  right_meter(x)  = attach(x, env(x) : hbargraph("right", -96, 10));

  /* The main program of the Faust dsp. */

  process         = (tone, tone) : (_*gain, _*gain) : balance
                  : (left_meter, right_meter);
  %>

  // These are provided by the Pd runtime.
  extern float sys_getsr(), int sys_getblksize();
  // Provide some reasonable default values in case the above are missing.
  sys_getsr = 48000; sys_getblksize = 64;

  // Get Pd's default sample rate and block size.
  const SR = int sys_getsr;
  const n = sys_getblksize;

  using faustui;

  amp_dsp = k,l,amp with
    // The dsp part. This also outputs the left and right dbmeter values for
    // each processed block of samples on the control outlet, using messages of
    // the form left <value> and right <value>, respectively.
    amp in::matrix = amp::compute dsp n in out $$
      out,{left (get_control left_meter),right (get_control right_meter)};
    // Respond to control messages of the form <control> <value>. <control> may
    // be any of the input controls supported by the Faust program (bass,
    // treble, gain, etc.).
    amp (c@_ x::double) = put_control (ui!str c) x $$ x;
  end when
    // Initialize the dsp.
    dsp = amp::newinit SR;
    // Get the number of inputs and outputs and the control variables.
    k,l,ui = amp::info dsp;
    ui = control_map $ controls ui;
    {left_meter,right_meter} = ui!!["left","right"];
    // Create a buffer large enough to hold the output from the dsp.
    out = dmatrix (l,n);
  end;

Note that it is possible to load the above Faust program directly in Pd, using
the facilities described in :doc:`faust2pd`. This is also more efficient since
it avoids the overhead of the extra Pure layer. However, invoking Faust dsps
via Pure also offers some benefits. In particular, it enables you to add more
sophisticated control processing, interface to other 3rd party software for
additional pre- and postprocessing of the signal data, or do live editing of
Faust programs using the facilities described in Livecoding_ below.

Advanced Features
=================

This section discusses some advanced features of the Pd Pure loader. It
explains the use of timer callbacks, wireless connections and wave arrays, and
the livecoding and interactive control facilities. We also give an overview of
the API provided for pd-pure programmers.

Asynchronous Messages
---------------------

pd-pure provides a simple asynchronous messaging facility which allows a Pure
object to schedule a message to be delivered to itself later. This is useful
for implementing all kinds of delays and, more generally, any kind of object
which, once triggered, does its own sequencing of control messages.

To these ends, the object function may return a special message of the form
``pd_delay t msg`` (either by itself or as an element of a result list) to
indicate that the message ``msg`` should be delivered to the object function
after ``t`` milliseconds (where ``t`` is either a machine int or a double
value). After the prescribed delay the object function will then be invoked on
the given message, and the results of this call are processed as usual
(routing messages to outlets and/or scheduling new timer events in response to
further ``pd_delay`` messages). Note that if the delay is zero or negative,
the message is scheduled to be delivered immediately.

For instance, a simple kind of delay object can be implemented in Pure as
follows::

  mydelay _ (alarm msg) = msg;
  mydelay t msg = pd_delay t (alarm msg) otherwise;

The desired delay time is specified as a creation argument. The first equation
handles messages of the form ``alarm msg``; the action is to just output the
delayed message given by the ``msg`` argument. All other input messages are
scheduled by the second equation, which wraps the message in an ``alarm`` term
so that it gets processed by the first equation when it is delivered.

Note that pd-pure only allows you to schedule a single asynchronous event per
call of the object function. Thus, if the ``mydelay`` object above receives
another message while it is still waiting for the previous one to be
delivered, the old timer is cancelled and the new one is scheduled instead;
this works like Pd's builtin ``delay`` object.

Moreover, scheduling a new event at an infinite (or ``nan``) time value
cancels any existing timer. (Note that you still have to specify the ``msg``
parameter, but it will be ignored in this case.) We can use this to equip our
``mydelay`` object with a ``stop`` message as follows::

  nonfix stop;
  mydelay _ (alarm msg) = msg;
  mydelay _ stop = pd_delay inf ();
  mydelay t msg = pd_delay t (alarm msg) otherwise;

More elaborate functionality can be built on top of the basic timer facility.
The following example shows how to maintain a timed message queue in a Pure
list, in order to implement a simple delay line similar to Pd's builtin
``pipe`` object. Here we also employ the :c:func:`pd_time` function, which is
provided by the Pure loader so that Pure scripts can access the current
logical Pd time in milliseconds (see `Programming Interface`_ below). This is
convenient if we need to deal with absolute time values, which we use in this
example to keep track of the times at which messages in the queue are to be
delivered::

  extern double pd_time();
  mypipe t = process (ref []) with
    process q () = case dequeue q of
                     x,(t,_):_ = {x,pd_delay (t-pd_time) ()};
                     x,_ = x;
                   end;
    process q x  = enqueue q x $$ pd_delay t () if null (get q);
                 = enqueue q x $$ () otherwise;
    enqueue q x  = put q $ get q+[(pd_time+t,x)];
    dequeue q    = x,put q xs when (_,x):xs = get q end;
  end;

Wireless Messaging
------------------

As of version 0.14, pd-pure offers some facilities for sending and receiving
messages directly, without any wired connections to the inlets and outlets of
an object (similar to what the Pd ``[send]`` and ``[receive]`` objects
provide). See the description for the :c:func:`pd_send` and
:c:func:`pd_receive` routines in the `Programming Interface`_ section.

For instance, here's how you can use the ``pd_send`` function to send messages
to the Pd runtime::

  pd_send "pd" (dsp 1); // turn on audio processing

This function also enables you to perform dynamic patching, by sending the
appropriate messages to patches (i.e., ``"pd-patch"`` receivers, where
``patch`` is the name of the target patch). Useful messages to patches are
listed in the `Tips and Tricks`_ section on the Pd community website, and some
examples can be found here__. For instance, the following Pure object, when
banged, inserts a few objects into a subpatch named ``test`` and connects them
to each other::

  extern void pd_send(char*, expr*);

  pd_send_test _ = () when
    pd_send "pd-test" (obj 10 0 "osc~" 220);
    pd_send "pd-test" (obj 10 30 "*~" 0.1);
    pd_send "pd-test" (obj 10 60 "dac~");
    pd_send "pd-test" (connect 0 0 1 0);
    pd_send "pd-test" (connect 1 0 2 0);
    pd_send "pd-test" (connect 1 0 2 1);
  end;

.. _Tips and Tricks: http://puredata.info/docs/tutorials/TipsAndTricks#patch-messages
__ http://pure-data.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pure-data/trunk/doc/additional/pd-msg/

An object can also receive messages from any named source by means of the
``pd_receive`` function. This function must be called either at object
creation time or when one of the dsp or control processing methods of the
object is invoked. For instance, the following object calls ``pd_receive`` at
creation time in order to receive messages sent to the ``left`` and ``right``
receivers, and outputs them on its left or right outlet, respectively::

  extern void pd_receive(char*);

  pd_receive_test = 1,2,process with
    process (left x) = 0,x;
    process (right x) = 1,x;
  end when
    do pd_receive ["left","right"];
  end;

Please note that ``pd_receive`` itself doesn't return any message, it merely
registers a receiver symbol so that messages sent to that symbol may be
received later. The received messages are always delivered to the leftmost
inlet when Pd does its control processing. Moreover, the symbol identifying
the source of the message is applied to the message itself, so that the
receiver can figure out where the message came from and adjust accordingly.
This operation is useful, in particular, to provide communication channels
between Pd GUI elements and Pure objects. Wireless connections are often
preferred in such cases, to reduce display clutter.

Reading and Writing Audio Data
------------------------------

Besides the realtime processing of audio data, Pd also provides a means to
store sample data in `arrays` which can be displayed in a patch and modified
interactively, see the section on numeric arrays in the Pd documentation for
details. Arrays can be used, e.g., as running waveform displays, as wavetables
which are played back in the audio loop, or as waveshaping functions used to
implement distortion effects.

Each array has a name (Pd symbol) under which it can be accessed from Pure
code. pd-pure makes it possible to transfer audio data directly between Pd
arrays and Pure double vectors by means of the :c:func:`pd_getbuffer` and
:c:func:`pd_setbuffer` routines. Please see `Programming Interface`_ below for
a closer description of the provided routines.

For instance, here is a ``randomwave`` object which fills a Pd array (whose
name is given as the creation argument) with random values in response to a
``bang`` message::

  extern double genrand_real1() = random1;

  extern int pd_getbuffersize(char *name);
  extern void pd_setbuffer(char *name, expr *x);

  nonfix bang;

  randomwave name = 1,0,process with
    process bang  = pd_setbuffer name {random | i = 1..nsamples};
    nsamples      = pd_getbuffersize name;
    random	  = random1*2-1;
  end;

Controlling the Runtime
-----------------------

pd-pure provides a predefined ``[pure-runtime]`` object which makes it
possible to control the embedded Pure interpreter in some ways. There can be
any number of ``[pure-runtime]`` objects in a patch, which all refer to the
same instance of the Pure interpreter.

The first use of ``[pure-runtime]`` is to load additional Pure scripts. To
these ends, ``[pure-runtime]`` can be invoked with the names of scripts to be
loaded at object creation time as arguments. The script names should be
specified without the ``.pure`` suffix; it will be added automatically. The
scripts will be searched for in the directory of the patch containing the
``[pure-runtime]`` object and on the Pd path. For instance, to load the
scripts ``foo.pure`` and ``bar.pure``, you can add the following object to
your patch::

  [pure-runtime foo bar]

This facility can be used, e.g., to load any additional scripts needed for
anonymous objects defined with ``[pure]`` and ``[pure~]``.

.. note:: You'll have to make sure that the ``[pure-runtime]`` object is
   inserted into the patch before any anonymous objects which depend on the
   loaded scripts. Also note that you shouldn't explicitly load the scripts
   which implement named Pure objects; this will be handled automatically by
   the Pure loader.

The ``[pure-runtime]`` object also accepts control messages which can be used
to dynamically reload all loaded scripts, and to implement "remote control" of
a patch using the :program:`pdsend` program. This is described in the
following subsection.

Livecoding
----------

Livecoding means changing Pure objects on the fly while a patch is running. A
simple, but limited way to do this is to just edit the boxes containing Pure
objects interactively, as you can do with any kind of Pd object. In this case,
the changes take effect immediately after you finish editing a box. However,
for more elaborate changes, you may have to edit the underlying Pure scripts
and notify the Pure interpreter so that it reloads the scripts. The Pure
loader provides the special ``[pure-runtime]`` object to do this.

Sending a ``bang`` to the ``[pure-runtime]`` object tells the plugin to reload
all object scripts and update the Pure objects in your patch accordingly. The
object also provides two outlets to deal with the inevitable latencies caused
by the compilation process. The right outlet is banged when the compilation
starts and the left outlet gets a bang when the compilation is finished, so
that a patch using this facility can respond to these events in the
appropriate way (e.g., disabling output during compilation).

The ``reload`` message works similarly, but while the ``bang`` message only
reloads the object scripts, ``reload`` restarts the Pure interpreter from
scratch and reloads everything, including the prelude and imported modules.
This will usually take much longer, but is only necessary if you edited
imported library modules which won't be reloaded with the ``bang`` message.

While this facility is very useful for interactive development, it does have
some limitations:

* At present, the number of inlets and outlets of Pure objects never changes
  after reloading scripts. Pd does not support this through its API right now.
  Thus by editing and reloading the Pure scripts you can change the
  functionality of existing Pure objects in a running patch, but not their
  interfaces. (It is possible to make changes to inlets and outlets take
  effect by manually editing the affected objects afterwards. But this will be
  cumbersome when you have to edit a lot of objects, so it might be easier to
  just restart Pd and reload the patches in such cases.)

* Reloading scripts may need some time depending on how much Pure code has to
  be recompiled and how fast your cpu is. With the ``bang`` message the delays
  will usually be small, but still noticable. In order to keep the compilation
  times to a minimum, it is a good idea to put all code which you don't plan
  to edit "live" into library modules which are imported in the object
  scripts. By these means, the number of definitions in the object scripts
  themselves can be kept small, resulting in faster compilation.

Also note that the reloading of object scripts amounts to a "cold restart" of
the Pure objects in your patches. If a Pure object keeps some `local state`_,
it will be lost. As a remedy, the loader implements a simple protocol which
allows Pure objects to record their internal state before a script gets
reloaded, and restore it afterwards. To these ends, a Pure object may respond
to the following two messages:

* Before reloading, the Pure object will receive the ``pd_save`` message. In
  response, the object should return a Pure expression encoding its internal
  state in a way which can be serialized (see the description of the
  :pure:func:`blob` function in the :doc:`purelib` for details). Usually, it
  is sufficient to just pack up all state data in a tuple, list or some other
  aggregate and return that as the response to the ``pd_save`` message.

* After reloading, the Pure object will receive a ``pd_restore state``
  message, where ``state`` is the previously recorded state, as returned by
  the object in response to the ``pd_save`` message. It should then restore
  its internal state from the saved data. (The return value of this message
  invocation is ignored.)

In order to participate in the ``pd_save``/``pd_restore`` protocol, an object
must subscribe to it. This is done by setting ``pd_save`` as a sentry on the
object function (see the description of the :pure:func:`sentry` function in
the :doc:`purelib` for details). For instance, here's the counter example from
`Local State`_ again, with the necessary additions to support the
``pd_save``/``pd_restore`` protocol::

  nonfix bang pd_save;
  counter = sentry pd_save $ next (ref 0) with
    next r bang = put r (get r+1);
    next r pd_save = get r;
    next r (pd_restore n) = put r n;
    next _ _ = () otherwise;
  end;

Remote Control
--------------

The distribution also includes an abstraction pure-remote.pd which you can
include in your patch to enable live coding, as well as remote control of the
patch through the :program:`pdsend` program. Sending a ``bang`` (or
``reload``) causes a reload of the object scripts, as described above. This
can also be triggered directly by clicking the bang control of the
abstraction. The bang control also provides visual feedback indicating whether
the compilation is still in progress. Messages are routed through the embedded
``[pure-runtime]`` object using the single inlet and the two outlets of the
abstraction, so that ``pure-remote`` can also be controlled from within the
patch itself.

For added convenience, the ``[pure-runtime]`` and ``[pure-remote]`` objects
also accept any other message of the form ``receiver message`` and will route
the given message to the given receiver. This is intended to provide remote
control of various parameters in patches. For instance, by having
:program:`pdsend` send a ``play 0`` or ``play 1`` message, one might implement
a simple playback control, provided that your patch includes an appropriate
receiver (often a GUI object). See the pure-help.pd patch for an example.

To make these features available in :program:`emacs`, there's an accompanying
elisp program (pure-remote.el) which contains some convenient keybindings for
the necessary :program:`pdsend` invocations, so that you can operate the
pure-remote patch with simple keystrokes directly from the text editor. The
same bindings are also available in Emacs Pure mode, but need to be enabled
before you can use them; please see the pure-remote.el file for details. As
shipped, pure-remote.el and Pure mode implement the following commands:

===========  ============   ==================================================
``C-C C-X``  Quick Reload   Sends a ``bang`` message to reload object scripts.
``C-C M-X``  Full Reload    Sends a ``reload`` message to reload everything.
``C-C C-M``  Message  	    Prompts for a message and sends it to pure-remote.
``C-C C-S``  Play     	    Sends a ``play 1`` message.
``C-C C-T``  Stop     	    Sends a ``play 0`` message.
``C-C C-G``  Restart  	    Sends a ``play 0`` message followed by ``play 1``.
``C-/``      Dsp On   	    Sends a ``pd dsp 1`` (enable audio processing).
``C-.``      Dsp Off  	    Sends a ``pd dsp 0`` (disable audio processing).
===========  ============   ==================================================

Of course you can easily add more like these, just have a look at how the
keybindings are implemented in pure-remote.el or pure-mode.el and create your
own in an analogous fashion. Together with Pure mode, this gives you a nice
interactive environment for developing pd-pure applications.

Compiling Objects
-----------------

pd-pure's livecoding abilities require that objects are run from source code.
As already mentioned, this needs some (in some cases, substantial) time at
startup when the Pure interpreter is loaded and your Pure scripts are compiled
to native code on the fly. This is wasted effort if you are finished
developing your Pure objects and just want to run them as they are.

Therefore pd-pure also supports compiling a collection of Pure objects to a
binary which can be loaded with Pd's ``-lib`` option just like any other
external library of Pd objects. This basically involves using the Pure
interpreter as a batch compiler to translate the Pure scripts implementing the
objects to a shared library. You also have to link in a small amount of C code
so that the shared module can be loaded by Pd and registers its Pd object
classes with pd-pure. The examples/lib folder contains a complete example
showing how this is done.

Note that even if you load all your pd-pure objects from such libraries, you
still need to load the pd-pure module first, since it provides the basic
infrastructure required to run any kind of pd-pure object (no matter whether
it's implemented in compiled or source form).

Programming Interface
---------------------

The Pure loader provides a number of interface routines which can be called by
Pure scripts running in the Pd environment. Note that in order to access these
functions, you'll have to add the corresponding ``extern`` declarations to
your scripts.

.. c:function:: extern char *pd_version_s()

   Returns the Pd version number as a string. Note that this routine will only
   be available when a script is running inside Pd, so you can quickly check
   if that's the case as follows::

     let ok = stringp $ eval "extern char *pd_version_s(); pd_version_s;";

   The ``ok`` variable will then be true iff the script is running inside Pd.

.. c:function:: extern expr *pd_path()

   Returns the Pd path (set in Pd's ``Path`` dialog or via the ``-path``
   command line option) as a list of directory names. This is useful if your
   Pure scripts need to locate files on the Pd search path.

.. c:function:: extern char *pd_libdir()

   Returns the Pd library dir (as determined at compile time). This is useful
   if your Pure scripts need to access files in that directory.

.. c:function:: extern expr *pd_getdir()

   Returns the directory of the patch the current object is in. This is useful
   if a Pure object needs to access files in the patch directory. Please note
   that this function must be called during object creation or in the method
   calls of an object, so that it is clear what the current object is;
   otherwise the function will fail. Also note that the results may differ for
   different instances of the same object class, depending on which patches
   the objects are located in.

.. c:function:: extern expr *pd_getfile()

   Returns the name of the file that will be opened with the ``menu-open``
   action (accessible by right-clicking on a Pure object and selecting
   ``Open``). This is usually the Pure script of the object, if available, but
   this can be changed with :c:func:`pd_setfile` below. The function must be
   called during object creation or in the method calls of an object, so that
   it is clear what the current object is; otherwise the function will fail.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_setfile(char *s)

   Sets the name of the file to be opened with the ``menu-open`` action. By
   default, this is the Pure script of the object, if available; this function
   can be used to change the name of the file on a per-object basis. The
   function must be called during object creation or in the method calls of an
   object, so that it is clear what the current object is; otherwise the
   function will have no effect.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_post(char *s)

   Posts a message in the Pd main window. A trailing newline is added
   automatically. This is a convenience function which is equivalent to
   calling Pd's ``post()`` (which is a varargs function) as ``post "%s" s``.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_error_s(char *s)

   Like :c:func:`pd_post`, but prints an error message instead. If this
   routine is invoked from an object (i.e., during object creation or a method
   call) then Pd's ``pd_error()`` function is called, which allows the object
   to be tracked down with Pd's ``Find Last Error`` menu command. Otherwise
   (i.e., if the function is called at load time) Pd's ``error()`` function is
   called which just outputs the message.

.. c:function:: extern double pd_time()

   Retrieves the current Pd time as a double value in milliseconds, which is
   useful, in particular, when used in conjunction with the asynchronous
   message facility described under `Asynchronous Messages`_.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_send(char *sym, expr *x)

   Sends a message, specified as a Pure term ``x``, to the receiver given by
   the symbol ``sym`` (specified as a string). This is a no-op if the receiver
   doesn't exist.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_receive(char *sym)

   Prepares an object so that it can receive messages sent to the given symbol
   ``sym``. This function must be called during object creation or method
   calls. It can be called for different symbols, as many times as needed. The
   messages are always delivered to the leftmost inlet, and the given symbol
   is applied to the original message, so that the receiver can figure out
   where the message came from.

.. c:function:: extern void pd_unreceive(char *sym)

   Switches off receiving messages for the given symbol ``sym``. Use this
   to undo the effects of a previous ``pd_receive`` call.

.. c:function:: extern expr *pd_getbuffer(char *name)
                extern void pd_setbuffer(char *name, expr *x)
                extern int pd_getbuffersize(char *name)
                extern void pd_setbuffersize(char *name, uint32_t sz)

   Routines to access the Pd array (sample buffer) with the given name. These
   functions can be used to transfer audio data between Pd and Pure scripts;
   see `Reading and Writing Audio Data`_ above for an example.

   :c:func:`pd_getbuffersize` and :c:func:`pd_setbuffersize` gets or sets the
   size of the given buffer, respectively.

   :c:func:`pd_getbuffer` reads the contents of the buffer and returns it as a
   Pure vector (or fails if the array with the given name doesn't exist).

   :c:func:`pd_setbuffer` sets the contents of the buffer from the given Pure
   vector ``x``. If the size of the vector exceeds the size of the buffer, the
   former is truncated. Conversely, if the size of the buffer exceeds the size
   of the Pure vector, the trailing samples are unaffected. *Note:* The
   second argument of :c:func:`pd_setbuffer` can also be a pair ``(i,x)``
   denoting an offset ``i`` into the array at which the sample data is to be
   written, so that this routine allows you to overwrite any part of the
   array.
