The last paragraph of "What is a Pattern?" from the userbase

Innards
1

I started learning Tidal just over a year ago, and spent a good amount of time puzzling over the last paragraph of the What is a pattern? page on the userbase, with a lot of head scratching. Quoting it here:

A ControlMap is simply a dictionary (or map) for storing some values by name (using a string). As well as using it for external control values within the A State datatype, we also use it to make ControlPattern s. They are simply patterns of controlmaps, and are used for representing patterns of synthesiser messages. So for example the speed function in sound "bd sn" # speed "2 3" ) turns a pattern of numbers into a pattern of controlmaps, the A sound turns a pattern of words into a pattern of controlmaps, and the A # composes them together into a new pattern of controlmaps. . Feel free to comment on the discussion page if something is unclear!

For the longest time, not knowing much Haskell, I figured I'd eventually figure out what the 'A' in the A State , the A sound, and the A # referred to. Anyway, fascination with Tidal convinced me to buckle down and get some comfort with Haskell. And a year or so later, I'm feeling significantly more comfortable with Haskell, but I still haven't seen the 'A' outside of this paragraph. So I thought it was finally time to ask what it means . . .

Can anyone shine some light on this?

3

I feel I have a decent understanding of how information from tidal gets passed to SuperDirt.
But this is the first time I've stumbled upon the paragraph, and I have no idea what they mean by "A".

Would second this post.

4

Strange, not sure where the A's came from. I've removed them and hopefully now that paragraph makes sense :slight_smile:

5

Thanks, lol.

It occurred to me that it might be a typo, but it seemed like an unlikely one - and given Haskell's fondness for single letter variables, S Combinator's and whatnot - I just didn't know.

@yaxu, I appreciate you clearing that up, and thanks for making this space where these potentially silly questions can be easily asked.

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6

Yes with there being two, it seems likely there should be meaning there..

7

Actually there were three (also "the A State datatype"). I made an edit and removed the last one.

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