if/else statement

&&

For better or worse, Max' syntax is based on the C programming language. Everything you need to know is described in the tutorials, but it may be helpful to at pick up a text on C (deadtree or online) and run through the syntax.

But in your case there are much more appropriate objects. Have you looked at split?

For that matter, have you looked at any of the tutorials or the relevant help files?

Ya I searched the tutorials but could not find anything on if/else statements. I have no programming experience so it's pretty confusing. Thanks anyway. =)

-Joyce-

On Max 5 it's "Basic" tutorials 19 & 22. They cover a lot of ground and after a cursory scan I wonder if a beginner might find the Max 4 Tutorial 15 a bit easier to follow. Mind you, you get through the whole Max4 tutorial without using the [if] object.

There is/was a notion that the [if] object is a more procedural way of programming, whereas 'real' Max programmers think dataflow, for which other objects are more idiomatic: sel, route, gate, the basic comparison objects, etc.

Yeah, there's a lot to learn. One hint: searching the documentation on 'comparison' will get you tighter results than a search on 'if' (which comes up in about 2,398 docs).

Hi Peter
Thank you for your reply. in the end I managed to figure out how to use the if function.

if $i1 > 140 then $1==90 else $i1==$i1

Realised that there was an if help file. Max 5 is quite beginner friendly I think. Manage(with the help of some advice from here and my peers) to do up my very own patch. =)

starlet_0808 wrote on Sun, 12 April 2009 21:01if $i1 > 140 then $1==90 else $i1==$i1

I'm curious to know what you think this is actually doing. Replacing the (illegal) $1 with $i1 leaves you with a complicated equivalent to

if $i1 > 140 then 0 else 1

which I assume isn't your intention. As Peter says, you can probably achieve what you want with "split". Even if what you want to achieve has an iffy feel about it, it's probably quite rare that the "if" object is the best way to go about it.

Oops I think I made a mistake. Basically I wanted this gridshape rotation to be at 90 degrees if say the number sent was more than 140. I'll take a look at split if I have the time. I was rushing for time so I thought if would be the easier way but yeah. Will definitely try to change it when my exams are over. Thanks anyway. =)

Quote:
if $i1 > 140 then $1==90 else $i1==$i1

interesting idea to do "then $1==90" - but be careful that stops working when you need more than one outputs (it does not work with "then $2==").

btw, it might also not work for $1, whatever that is.

have you tried connecting a [print] object to it?

please do so.

Peter Castine wrote on Sun, 12 April 2009 08:40

There is/was a notion that the [if] object is a more procedural way of programming, whereas 'real' Max programmers think dataflow, for which other objects are more idiomatic: sel, route, gate, the basic comparison objects, etc.

True for me too, I rarely use the actual [if] object. The other ones mentioned are essentially special-purpose [if] objects anyways, and a lot easier to use I think, plus you can do multiple tests with one object, like [sel 0 1 2 3 4 5]. Though sometimes the [if] is handy for just the right function.

Quote:

Though sometimes the [if] is handy for just the right function.

for example when you need "greater than" and "smaller than" it saves you at least one maxmsp level connection compared to comparison operators or [split].
same for excluding and filtering more than one thing.

or both at the same time:

[if $f1 > 0. && $f1 < 100. && $f1 != 25. && $f1 != 75. then bang]

could save you not only 17 metro-driven max messages, but might also be even easier to program.

-110