yolk- Simplest way I can think of would be to use java in mxj, the max5 java interpreter: if you want a simple syntax for most of these xml web/net requests and raw http request response control, check out the simple "groovy" (groovy.codehaus.org) syntax, and use nick cassiel's groovy shell object. Or check out the base java classes and code it your self. ymmv, g'luck, std disclaimer, etc.

cfb aka j2k

I don't know the status of Groovy as a project - the mailing list has been dead for years - so I'd suggest Jython (Python in Java) which lets you script Java in a clean and convenient manner:

http://www.loadbang.net/space/Software/net.loadbang.jython

...having said that, a look at the Groovy web site suggests it's still being developed.

My main problem with Groovy is that the syntax seems arbitrary and rather fragile. Python, although much less Java-like, is cleaner and more consistent.

Thanks for the tips. However, I was talking to my professor yesterday. He mentioned something that didn't even occur to me, which is OSC.

I feel it would give me less headaches to work with OSC than to try making Raw http requests and such. It should be pretty trivial to take my python code and have it send OSC messages with pyliblo instead.

I'll keep you all updated!