EV3-G API: Sound.play_note()

[dwalton76]

@EricPobot we chatted about this for a bit in #358 ...can you take a look at implementing a

   def play_note(note, duration_ms, volume=100, play_type=PLAY_WAIT_FOR_COMPLETE)

in the Sound class?

[dwalton76]

@EricPobot do you have the cycles to take a stab at this one? I don't know enough music theory to implement this :(

[ericpascual]

@dwalton76 I'll give it a look ASAP (maybe tonight) and keep you updated.
I guess that "volume=100" means "volume at 100%". Right ?

[EricPobot]

What is the specification of the duration value ? Does 1.0 represent a delay in seconds or something else like a quarter note for instance (i.e. the 'q' notation as used by play_song) ?

[dlech]

duration is how long the note plays in seconds

[EricPobot]

@dlech I've noted after asking that the example of the signature in the opening post shows "duration_ms". Since play_tone uses ms too, maybe we should keep the same unit (i.e. millis, not seconds) to be homogeneous.

[EricPobot]

First implementation done (was not a big deal, since the play_tone method being already there, so it was just a matter of getting the frequency for the passed note symbol).
I still need to do the appropriate work (fork + pull request) for submitting the changes. This will have to wait until tomorrow since time to go to bed now ;)
I've made some minor changes in a couple of place to remove PEP compliance warnings.

[dlech]

maybe we should keep the same unit (i.e. millis, not seconds) to be homogeneous.

It seems to me that in general, python uses seconds (e.g. time.sleep()), so that would be my preference. (and tone playback could be changed to match).

[ericpascual]

Agree. Let's align all involved methods to seconds. I'll integrate this in my changes.

[EricPobot]

After some thinking, and because the underlying system commands use integer counts of milliseconds, using milliseconds everywhere seemed more appropriate.

Implementation is finished. Am I supposed to push my changes to the repo () ?

[WasabiFan]

@EricPobot open a pull request and we can take a look.

[EricPobot]

@WasabiFan I need some refresher : does it mean that I have to fork the project, then put my changes in this fork and issue a pull request from it ?

[WasabiFan]

@EricPobot yep; see here: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request/

[dlech]

and because the underlying system commands use integer counts of milliseconds,

Part of the reason for adding this additional api is to decouple from the underlying system commands and do things more like the EV3-G software so that it is easier for people who are familiar with the LEGO software to make the transition to python.

[ericpascual]

@dlech Your point makes sense WRT how the LEGO SW presents it. I'll switch all durations to milliseconds.

However, there are also others delays which are specified in msecs, and which maybe will become a bit tedious to express as seconds, since representing short pauses (e.g. 50ms). How will users feel the obligation to write 0.05 for such quantities ?

I do not have a definite opinion on this point.

[ericpascual]

@WasabiFan Thanks for the pointer. I already have an old fork, from the epoch I tried to collaborate a bit. Do you advise me to drop it and create a fresh new fork or can it be safely synced with the current status of the project ?