Re: [Web MIDI API] send() method should also allow 3 shorts + timestamp

On Monday, December 17, 2012 at 4:03 PM, Jussi Kalliokoski wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 5:42 PM, Marcos Caceres <marcosscaceres@gmail.com (mailto:marcosscaceres@gmail.com)> wrote:
> >  
> >  
> > On Monday, December 17, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Jussi Kalliokoski wrote:
> >  
> > > On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 9:30 AM, Marcos Caceres <marcosscaceres@gmail.com (mailto:marcosscaceres@gmail.com) (mailto:marcosscaceres@gmail.com)> wrote:
> > > > Currently, the send() method is defined as:
> > > > void send (sequence<short> data, optional DOMHighResTimeStamp? timestamp);
> > > >  
> > > > However, it appears to me that it is extremely common to only want to send 3 bytes of data at a time (+ optional timestamp)… Having now been playing around with the API for about 10 hours, I actually keep forgetting to put things into an array (which leads to annoying errors). Can I recommend that the send interface be overloaded:
> > > >  
> > > > void send (sequence<short> data, optional DOMHighResTimeStamp? timestamp);
> > > > void send (short byte1, short byte2, short byte3, optional DOMHighResTimeStamp? timestamp);
> > > >  
> > > > That would make the interface much more natural to work with and avoid having to remember to put things into an array all the time.
> > > >  
> > > > --
> > > > Marcos Caceres
> > > > http://datadriven.com.au
> > >  
> > >  
> > >  
> > > Heh, we actually had a veeeery looooong discussion about this earlier: https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=18764
> > Yeah, I read through the whole thread - it was really interesting. But, in the end, I didn't see how the spec ended up with just the array (instead of the array and the 3 bytes). I am in agreement that people will end up writing wrappers all over the place for this, but it would be great to at least not have to for some things.
>  
>  
> Well, it actually came as a bit of surprise for me too (Chris changed it), but I like the form it took.
>  
> > Like I mentioned previously, as a JS developer, I kept screwing up and not putting things into an array. It's another thing I have to think about, which, IMHO, I shouldn't have to.
>  
>  
> To me, as a JS developer as well, I think it adds structure to the function call, separating the data from the timestamp. Longer signatures are more overhead, at least for my head.Can you give me an example of what you mean?  
>  

Just so we are on the same page, can you give me an example of what you mean? (I conceptualize things better in JS).

In my own case, I kept finding I was doing things like this (specially as I'm testing sounds being emitted - not real data):

output.send(90,60,122);

I did this a lot particularly in the console.  



--  
Marcos Caceres

Received on Monday, 17 December 2012 16:18:13 UTC