On Thu, 2009-09-24 at 12:18 +0200, Jeff Rose wrote:
> Looking at what seem to be the popular "platforms" for musical
> generation, it seems like there are pretty much four models of time:
>
> * Chuck style synchronous time, where each thread manages its own
> execution timing using what is basically a sleep mechanism.
>
> * Impromptu's asynchronous callbacks, where function calls are scheduled
> for future execution.
>
> * SuperCollider patterns (Pbind & friends) with "managed time", where
> either a fixed duration or a sequence of durations are used to specify
> execution timing, but the actually scheduling is done for you by the
> stream generation machinery.
>
> * Max/MSP metronome events, where a timer fires an event to start
> triggering notes.
>
> I'm sure you can mix and match these styles in each system and language,
> but in my dabbling in each of these worlds it seems like this is the
> typical way people think of time when using them.
I'd be interested to see where the functional reactive idea of time fits
into these too.
The main difference seems to be the declarative nature of behaviours in
frp, you don't have to manage a running process as such - the system
takes care of calling everything for you. There is no notion of 'the
current time' in the code - which I find really refreshing.
cheers,
dave
Received on Fri Sep 25 2009 - 09:33:56 BST