Editing Pure Data (section)

== Similarities to Max ==
Pure Data and [[Max (software)|Max]] are both examples of [[dataflow programming]] languages. Dataflow languages model a program as a [[directed graph]] of the data flowing between operations.  In Pure Data and Max, functions or "objects" are linked or "patched" together in a graphical environment which models the flow of the control and audio. Unlike the original version of Max, however, Pd was always designed to do control-rate and audio processing on the host [[central processing unit]] (CPU), rather than offloading the [[sound synthesis]] and [[signal processing]] to a [[digital signal processor]] (DSP) board (such as the [[Ariel (company)|Ariel]] [[ISPW]] which was used for Max/FTS). Pd code forms the basis of [[David Zicarelli]]'s MSP extensions to the Max language to do software audio processing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cycling74.com/support/faq_max4/#1|title=FAQ: Max 4 - Cycling '74|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref>

Like Max, Pd has a [[modularity (programming)|modular]] code base of ''externals'' or objects which are used as building blocks for programs written in the software.  This makes the program arbitrarily extensible through a public [[API]], and encourages developers to add their own control and audio routines in the [[C (programming language)|C]] programming language, or with the help of other externals, in [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]], [[Lua (programming language)|Lua]], [[Tcl]], and many others.  However, Pd is also a programming language. Modular, reusable units of code written natively in Pd, called "patches" or "abstractions", are used as standalone programs and freely shared among the Pd user community, and no other programming skill is required to use Pd effectively.