Editing Max (software) (section)

==Language==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2015}}
[[File:LandMap Max patcher.jpg|thumb|356x356px|Screenshot of an older Max/Msp interface]]
Max is named after composer [[Max Mathews]], and can be considered a descendant of his [[MUSIC-N|MUSIC]] language, though its graphical nature disguises that fact.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Puckette |first=Miller |title=Max at Seventeen |url=http://msp.ucsd.edu/Publications/dartmouth-reprint.dir/dartmouth-reprint.html |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=msp.ucsd.edu}}</ref> Like most [[MUSIC-N]] languages, Max distinguishes between two levels of time: that of an ''event'' scheduler, and that of the DSP (this corresponds to the distinction between k-rate and a-rate processes in [[Csound]], and control rate vs. audio rate in [[SuperCollider]]).

The basic language of Max and its sibling programs is that of a data-flow system: Max programs (named ''patches'') are made by arranging and connecting building-blocks of ''objects'' within a ''patcher'', or visual canvas. These objects act as self-contained programs (in reality, they are dynamically linked libraries), each of which may receive input (through one or more visual ''inlets''), generate output (through visual ''outlets''), or both. Objects pass messages from their outlets to the inlets of connected objects.

Max supports six basic atomic data types that can be transmitted as messages from object to object: int, float, list, symbol, bang, and signal (for MSP audio connections). Several more complex data structures exist within the program for handling numeric arrays (''table'' data), hash tables (''coll'' data), XML information (''pattr'' data), and JSON-based dictionaries (''dict'' data). An MSP data structure (''buffer~'') can hold digital audio information within program memory. In addition, the Jitter package adds a scalable, multi-dimensional data structure for handling large sets of numbers for storing video and other datasets (''matrix'' data).

Max is typically learned through acquiring a vocabulary of objects and how they function within a patcher; for example, the ''metro'' object functions as a simple metronome, and the ''random'' object generates random integers. Most objects are non-graphical, consisting only of an object's name and several arguments-attributes (in essence class properties) typed into an ''object box''. Other objects are graphical, including sliders, number boxes, dials, table editors, pull-down menus, buttons, and other objects for running the program interactively. Max/MSP/Jitter comes with about 600 of these objects as the standard package; extensions to the program can be written by third-party developers as Max patchers (e.g. by encapsulating some of the functionality of a patcher into a sub-program that is itself a Max patch), or as objects written in [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], or [[JavaScript]].

The order of execution for messages traversing through the graph of objects is defined by the visual organization of the objects in the patcher itself. As a result of this organizing principle, Max is unusual in that the program logic and the interface as presented to the user are typically related, though newer versions of Max provide several technologies for more standard GUI design.

Max documents (named patchers) can be bundled into stand-alone applications and distributed free or sold commercially. In addition, Max can be used to author audio and MIDI [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] software for [[Ableton Live]] through the Max for Live extension.

With the increased integration of [[laptop]] computers into live music performance (in [[electronic music]] and elsewhere), Max/MSP and Max/Jitter have received attention as a development environment available to those serious about laptop music/video performance. Programs sharing Max's visual programming concepts are now commonly used for real-time audio and video synthesis and processing.