v 0.9

• The LISP language was designed to work upon lists of data (LISt Processing), with a rich set of built-in functions potentially useful for Max/MSP programmers. Arbitary data structures, functions, and return-types are easy to construct using [mxj maxlispj].
  
  For example, the following function will return a random element from a list:

  (defun getel(l)
     (nth (random (length l)) l)
  )
  

  This function can be used to build a function returning a list of three random elements from three different lists:

  (defun get3el(l1 l2 l3)
  	(cons (getel l1)
  		(cons (getel l2)
  			(list (getel l3))))
  )
  

  And the delightfully insane thing about LISP is that lists can be lists of numbers, lists of strings, lists of functions, lists of lists, etc.
  
  
• Because LISP is an interpreted language, functions can be defined and sent into LISP "on the fly" to operate upon Max/MSP data. The abcl interpreter (driven from Max/MSP) is fast enough for many extensive LISP operations.
  
  There are a number of good tutorials on Common Lisp available.
  
  
• A fairly common complaint among Max/MSP developers is the lack of a robust set of string-manipulation and data-structuring utilities. Obviously, LISP has powerful string-processing capabilities, and data representation can become as arbitrarily complex as necessary.
  
  
• The [mxj maxlispj] object will catch most LISP errors and continue functioning.
  
  
• Full source for both the [mxj maxlispj] object and the abcl interpreter are available for downloading (see below).

Potential "Pitfalls"  (we wouldn't want to call them "bugs", would we?)

• Although [mxj maxlispj] will catch and handle most LISP errors, it cannot provide the debugging features that traditionally come with a LISP interpeter (i.e. no interactive debugger, no backtracing. etc.). It is probably best to develop code in a standalone Common Lisp interpreter and then import the code (the "loadbug" message to [mxj maxlispj] is useful) into Max/MSP.
  
  It is possible to run abcl LISP from a Terminal window to use the Common Lisp debugging features. Copy the file "BGabcl.jar" into a directory other than the Max/MSP classes directory where it was installed, and then issue the command:
  
  
  java -cp [pathto]/BGabcl.jar org.armedbear.lisp.Main
  
  where [pathto] is an absolute or relative path to the copy of the "BGabcl.jar" file. Alternatively, download the abcl source from the armedbear.org web site and follow the included instructions.
  
  
• [mxj maxlispj] needs to do a lot of initialization when starting the LISP interpreter. The first [mxj maxlispj] object instantiated in a patcher may take several seconds (sometimes 10-20 seconds, sometimes even longer) to load. Be patient, even if (OSX users) the 'spinning rainbow wheel of death' appears. All subsequent [mxj maxlispj] objects will appear quickly as the initialization only has to occur once. NOTE: One very odd situation can occur -- if a patcher has been saved to disk in a session prior to creating a [mxj maxlispj] object, the first object instantiated in the saved patcher will take a fair amount of time (30 seconds to a minute, depending on processor speed) as it allocates memory. A number of errors will also appear in the Max window about not finding certain classes, but the [mxj maxlsipj] will eventually be created and will function normally. I'm not sure why this happens.
  
  
• It is possible -- and in fact quite easy -- to write LISP programs that take a significant amount of time to execute. If the LISP interpreter takes too much time, Max/MSP will not be happy. This is real time, right?
  
  
• I'm not sure how well [mxj maxlispj] will handle a REALLY LARGE program. "riff-o-matic" is somewhat substantial, but I'm not a truly sophisticated LISP hacker.
  
  
• There presently is an issue with semicolons... these are used for comments in Common Lisp, but they function as a 'message' character for Max/MSP. Your results will vary, but to be safe you should probably strip semicolon comments from any LISP code coming into Max/MSP. This does not affect the use of semicolons as comments in the internal lisp buffer or in files loaded/saved to or from the internal buffer.

• maxlispj.sit   (6.1 Mbytes download)
• maxlispj.tar   (6.1 Mbytes download)
• maxlispj.zip   (5.3 Mbytes download)
  v 0.9 -- 1/9/2008
  
  
  This archive will unpack into a single maxlispj/ folder. Inside is a file BGabcl.jar. You will need to do two thing to get [mxj maxlispj] running:
  
  
  1. Move or copy the BGabcl.jar file into a folder Max/MSP can use for dynamically loading java classes. On Max/MSP 4.6/OSX machines, this may be something like:
  
  
  /Applications/MaxMSP 4.6/Cycling '74/java/classes/
  
  or on Windows it might be:
  
  
  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Cycling '74\java\classes\
  
  The BGabcl.jar file contains the java classes to run the LISP interpreter and provide the interface to Max/MSP.
  
  
  2. You will need to edit the file max.java.config.txt to add the BGabcl.jar file to the java dynamic class search path. The max.java.config.txt file is located in the main Cycling '74/java/ directory (see the example paths above). An entry showing where the BGabcl.jar file is located should be added somewhere in the file, for example the line:
  
  
  max.dynamic.class.dir "/Applications/MaxMSP 4.6/Cycling '74/java/classes/BGabcl.jar"
  
  would be used if BGabcl.jar was placed in the default Max/MSP 4.6/OSX location. On Windows the max.java.config.txt entry might be:
  
  
  max.dynamic.class.dir "C:/Program Files/Common Files/MaxMSP 4.6/Cycling '74/java/classes/BGabcl.jar"
  
  if the standard Windows Max/MSP install location was used.
  
  Once these two changes have been made, you can fire up a max patcher and create an object: [mxj maxlispj] and LISP is ready to go!
  
  
• maxlispj-help.sit   (133 Kbytes download)
• maxlispj-help.tar   (338 Kbytes download)
• maxlispj-help.zip   (31 Kbytes download)
  v 0.9 -- 1/9/2008
  
  
  The folder maxlispj-help/ will unpack from this archive. Inside this folder is the patcher maxlisp.help, which contains a number of [mxj maxlispj] examples and associated documentation. You can open the maxlisp.help patcher directly, or you may want to move the entire maxlispj.help/ folder (intact! don't just move the maxlisp.help patcher!) to the Max/MSP help folder. This will allow it to be invoked by OPTION-clicking (OSX) or ALT-clicking (Windows) on the [mxj maxlispj] object in an edited patch window. Usually this help folder is in /Applications/MaxMSP 4.6/max-help/ (OSX) or C:\Program Files\Cycling '74MaxMSP 4.5\max-help\ (Windows, Max/MSP 4.5). Run all the examples, they're fun!

Source Code

• maxlispj-src.tar   (10 Kbytes download)
  v 0.9 -- 1/9/2008
  
  
  The java source code for the maxlispj.java class that provides the link between abcl and Max/MSP. Download the abcl source from the abcl web site.

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