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Glossary

Short meanings for the words this guide uses. Each one links to the chapter that teaches it. Stuck on an error message instead? See When something goes wrong.

A

  • alpha. How solid a colour is. 0 is invisible and 255 is solid. Chapter 4
  • aroha. The way a raga goes up, from Sa to the Sa above. See also avaroha. Chapter 17
  • avaroha. The way a raga comes down. Chapter 17

B

  • beat. One step of the pulse of a tune. tempo says how many beats come each minute. Chapter 16
  • blend mode. The rule for how new drawing mixes with what is already there, such as "multiply". Chapter 5
  • bol. The name of a tabla stroke, said as a syllable: Dha, Dhin, Na, Tin. A theka is a line of bols. Chapter 17
  • boolean (shapes). Joining or cutting two paths to make a new one: union (|), intersection (&), difference (-) and xor (^). Chapter 9

C

  • canvas. The drawing area. Its size is set with f.size(). Chapter 2
  • chord. Two or more notes played together. f.melody() writes one as [C4 E4 G4], and sound.chord() names the one it hears. Chapter 16
  • clip. To keep drawing inside a path. Anything outside the path is not painted. Chapter 9
  • colour mode. How numbers are read as a colour: "rgb", "hsb" or "hsl", and the largest value of each part. Set with f.color_mode(). Chapter 4
  • coordinates. A place on the canvas as a pair of numbers, x across and y down, from the top-left corner. Chapter 1

D

  • decibel (dB). A way to measure loudness on a scale where each step of 20 is ten times the sound level. A quiet room is about -65 dB in funground's microphone examples. Chapter 16
  • draw. The function draw() that funground calls once for every frame. Chapter 2
  • drone / tanpura. A steady background note, or the instrument that plays it. A tanpura sounds Sa and Pa over and over, so a singer always has Sa to hold on to. f.drone() makes one. Chapter 17

E

  • envelope. The shape of a note over time: how it rises (attack), settles (decay), holds (sustain) and fades (release). Chapter 16

F

  • fill. The colour inside a shape. Set with f.fill(). Chapter 5
  • font fallback. Drawing a letter from another font when the one you chose does not have it, so you see the letter, not an empty box. Chapter 6
  • frame. One run of draw(): one picture in the animation. About 60 happen each second. Chapter 2
  • frequency. How many times a sound wave goes up and down each second, in hertz (Hz). 440 Hz is the note A above middle C. Chapter 16

G

  • gradient. A colour that changes smoothly from one place to another. It can be used wherever a colour can. Chapter 4

H

  • hex colour. A colour written like a web page does, such as "#FF6347". Chapter 4
  • hue. The "kind" of colour, as a position on the colour wheel: 0 is red, 120 is green and 240 is blue. Chapter 4

K

  • kan. A quick grace note touched just before another note, written (R)G. Chapter 17
  • khali. The "empty" part of a tala, marked by a wave of the hand instead of a clap and written 0. Chapter 17

L

  • layer. A see-through picture over the canvas that keeps its drawing. Made with with f.layer("name"):. Layers are real layers in a PDF or SVG. Chapter 9
  • live text. Text in a PDF or SVG file that is still text, so you can select, search and edit it. The other choice is shapes (see below). Chapter 13

M

  • meend. A smooth glide from one note to another, written S~G. Chapter 17
  • microphone. Your computer's sound input. f.microphone() listens to it and tells you its level, spectrum and pitch. Chapter 16

N

  • noise. A smooth kind of randomness. f.noise() changes gently as you move along it, like hills, not like static. Chapter 11

O

  • onset. The moment a new note or hit begins in a sound. Chapter 16
  • opacity. How see-through everything you draw is. f.opacity() goes from 0 (invisible) to 255 (solid). Chapter 5

P

  • pakad. A short phrase that marks a raga, the one that tells a listener which raga it is. Chapter 17
  • path. A shape built from lines and curves, made with f.path(). You can draw it, clip with it, and join or cut paths. Chapter 9
  • PDF. A file for documents and print. funground saves the shapes and text, so it stays sharp at any size. Chapter 13
  • picture. A canvas of its own that you can draw on and then place with f.image(). Made with f.create_graphics(), f.load_image() or f.load_svg(). Chapter 9
  • pitch. How high or low a note sounds. sound.pitch() gives the frequency of the note it hears. Chapter 16
  • pixel. One tiny dot of the canvas. The canvas is a grid of them. Chapter 9
  • push and pop. f.push() saves the transform and style, and f.pop() brings them back. with f.saved_state(): does both for you. Chapter 8

R

  • raga. A set of notes with its own rules and mood, used to make Hindustani music. funground knows a raga's notes and a few facts, not the raga itself. Chapter 17
  • reverb. The ringing of a room after a sound ends. sound.reverb() adds it. Chapter 16

S

  • Sa. The first and home note of Indian music. Every other swara is measured from it, and it can be any pitch you like. Chapter 17
  • sam. The first beat of a tala, where the cycle begins and lands. Marked X. Chapter 17
  • sample. One number in a sound. A sound is a long list of samples from -1 to 1, 44 100 of them for each second. Chapter 16
  • samvadi. The second most important swara of a raga. See also vadi. Chapter 17
  • script. A file with no setup(), draw() or f.run(). It draws from top to bottom, and ends with f.show() or f.save(). Chapter 2
  • setup. The function setup() that funground calls once, before the first frame. Usually it calls f.size(). Chapter 2
  • shapes (text as). Saving every letter as a drawing of its outline, so it looks the same on every computer but cannot be edited. Written text="shapes". Chapter 13
  • sketch. A funground program with setup() and draw() that ends with f.run(). Chapter 1
  • sound. A made or loaded noise you can play, watch and change. In funground it is an object with play(), level(), spectrum() and more. Chapter 16
  • spectrum. The strength of each range of pitch in a sound at this moment, from low notes to high ones. Often drawn as bars. Chapter 16
  • stroke. The outline of a shape, or a line. Set with f.stroke() and f.stroke_width(). Chapter 5
  • SVG. A file of shapes and text for the web and for drawing programs. Chapter 13
  • swara. A note of Indian music, named from Sa: S r R g G m M P d D n N. Small letters are flat (komal) and M is sharp (tivra). Chapter 17

T

  • tala. A cycle of beats that comes round again and again, such as Teentaal with 16 beats. Chapter 17
  • tali. The beats of a tala where you clap. Chapter 17
  • tanpura. See drone.
  • tempo. The speed of the beat, in beats a minute. Chapter 16
  • thaat. The parent scale a raga belongs to, in Bhatkhande's system of ten. Chapter 17
  • theka. The pattern of bols that sets out a tala, one bol to a beat. f.tala() plays it. Chapter 17
  • transform. A change that moves, turns or resizes everything drawn after it: f.translate(), f.rotate() and f.scale(). Chapter 8

V

  • vadi. The most important swara of a raga. See also samvadi. Chapter 17
  • vector. An x and a y kept together, such as a position or a speed. Made with f.Vector(x, y). Chapter 12