Re:Those API revisions, plus some thoughts

[ccastiglione]

-> Random thoughts on file formats:

->I'm thinking we should take advantage of the filesystem. A song is a
directory; inside is a large text file (possibly XML but it doesn't
really matter) containing all the Octal setup info (machine connections,
param states, patterns, arrangements, wave maps).

Dave, have you ever looked at the tech reviews of Mac OSX?  What you're
describing sounds similar to the method the Apple devs came up with to wrap the
capricious "standards" for various types of *nix setup files.  I can't find the
article I read about it now (of course) but as I recall, it described OSX Mac
files as being "bundles," which at the command line level actually break down
into a directory full of files containing various resources. What makes this
concept work is that each bundle directory also includes an XML file which
provides an interface definition for accessing the various resources.

Not knowing hardly anything about either XML or Mac -- well nothing recent to
within the past six years or so -- I can't get any more detailed than that.  But
I remember thinking that this was an interesting and creative way of bridging
the Mac and *nix worlds, and wondering why noone else seemed to be doing things
like that.

Uh -- I planned to make a point with this email originally, but I can't for the
life of me remember what it was.

chris/hex/uku