Re: Coding vs patching: would you eat soup with a fork?

> As musicians we should at least be humble enough to learn to play  
> out instruments well. If the computer is your chosen instrument and  
> you can't program in a proper programming language, then you're the  
> student who hasn't practiced their scales.
>
> From a music grad who made into computer science academia before  
> going back to music ;)
> Lorien
> Uri Sala wrote:
>> Dear list,
>> Would you give someone a fork to eat soup? Sorry about the cheap  
>> analogy, but it breaks my heart every time I think that 75% of the  
>> theoretical knowledge I have received in electronic music has been  
>> using Max/MSP. Most of the young and more inexperienced guys at  
>> school have a hard time grasping the concepts of electronic music.  
>> I am totally convinced that if they used SC they would learn much  
>> faster. Can anybody explain to my why the myth that coding is hard  
>> and that having a screen full of spaghetti makes it easier to  
>> program is still in vogue? I really don't get it. I mean, really.  
>> Actually I do, or I think I do. When the beginning electronic  
>> music student sees a Max patch, he only sees the end result, that  
>> is, a nice GUI, and thinks WOW, max looks neat. They never think  
>> that, under that nice looking main patch is hidden a maze of  
>> subpatches, until they start patching themselves. I am sure that,  
>> eventually along the line, every Max user gets the "god there are  
>> so many cables and windows open, maybe text would actually be  
>> better" - kind of feeling. I did, only it took me about a week.
>> I am quite known among my friends in the conservatory for my  
>> strong feelings about SC, and my increasing unease every time a  
>> teacher tries to shove Max down our throats, clogging the screen  
>> with nonsense to do something that would take 1 line in SC.
>> Some people might argue it is a matter of personal preference.  
>> Well, let me get intransigent: it is not. Ruby vs Python is a  
>> valid dilemma. Coding vs dragging is not. Just look around. Do you  
>> know any (non musical) programmers? What do they use? Little boxes  
>> and cables? Ask any of them whether they think it would be better  
>> to program in that way and you're likely to get a laugh. Of course  
>> many people have done great programming with Max. I once ate a  
>> soup with a fork too. Hey, even Miller Puckette said that Max was  
>> not thought out to program with, just to use as patcher for C  
>> modules.
>> I wanted to ask whether anyone knows of a text somewhere that  
>> exposes what I just said in more objective, less altered terms? If  
>> not, I would like to know the opinion of the forum. I promise to  
>> collect the strongest points, print them and post them all over town.
>>
>> Sorry about the rant, but I cannot stand bad reasoning. I will  
>> have my pill now.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Uri
>>
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