GenExpr for VS Code

A Visual Studio Code extension providing syntax highlighting, snippets, and language support for genexpr - C74's DSP expression language used in Max/MSP.

Features

🎵 Syntax Highlighting

• Full syntax highlighting for genexpr code
• Support for DSP-specific keywords and operators
• C-style syntax with genexpr-specific extensions
• Proper highlighting for constants, classes, and built-in functions

📝 Code Snippets

• Buffer operations: buffer, peek, poke
• Oscillators: cycle, cyclePhase
• Data structures: data, delay, history
• Control flow: for, function, return
• Parameters: param
• Utility functions: wrap

🔧 Language Support

• File extensions: .gendsp, .genexpr
• Auto-completion and IntelliSense
• Bracket matching and auto-closing pairs
• Code folding support
• Comment support (single-line // and block /* */)

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "genexpr"
4. Click Install

Usage

Creating a genexpr file

1. Create a new file with .gendsp or .genexpr extension
2. Start typing genexpr code - syntax highlighting will activate automatically
3. Use snippets by typing the prefix and pressing Tab

Available Snippets

Snippet	Description
buffer	Create a Buffer object with dimension and channel info
cycle	Cycle operator with frequency input
cyclePhase	Cycle operator with phase input
data	Data object declaration
delay	Delay line object
history	History object for tracking previous values
peek	Read from buffer or data object
poke	Write to buffer or data object
wrap	Wrap a value between min/max bounds
for	For loop structure
function	Function definition
param	Parameter declaration
return	Return statement

Example Code

// Simple oscillator with buffer
Buffer myBuffer("myBuffer");
myBuffer_dim = dim(myBuffer);
myBuffer_chans = channels(myBuffer);

// Generate a sine wave
sample, sampleIndex = cycle(440.0, name="myBuffer");

// Wrap the output
wrappedOutput = wrap(sample, -1.0, 1.0);

// Output the result
out = wrappedOutput;

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.11.0 or higher
• No additional dependencies required

Extension Settings

This extension does not currently provide any configurable settings.

Known Issues

• None currently reported

Release Notes

0.0.1

Initial release featuring:

• Basic syntax highlighting for genexpr
• Core DSP snippets (buffer, cycle, data, etc.)
• Language configuration for proper editing support

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

License

This extension is open source. Please check the repository for license details.

Related

• Max/MSP - The main Max/MSP environment
• genexpr Documentation - Official genexpr reference