What are the enclosed numbers on the left hand side in the console when I "print"?

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1

What are the enclosed numbers on the left hand side in the console when I “print”?

Nos

https://editor.p5js.org/femkeblanco/sketches/GFcm8qZgP

Thanks in advance.

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3

The console aggregates repeated print statements, giving you a summary rather than a list. It prints the aggregated statements about every half-second.

So, for example:

function setup() {
  createCanvas(400, 400);
  print("setup")
  frameRate(6);
}

function draw() {
  background(220);
  print("draw");
  if(frameCount==8) noLoop();
}

will call setup and then run for 8 frames, calling print with this:

setup draw draw draw draw draw draw draw draw

   setup
3  draw
3  draw
2  draw

At 6fps, 3 frames is about half a second – so it is printing an update every 3 frames.

This is especially useful for summarizing print statements inside loops.

function setup() {
  createCanvas(400, 400);
  frameRate(6);
}

function draw() {
  background(220);
  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) { 
    print("A")
  }
  for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) { 
    print("B")
  }
}

Note that the first B means that A isn’t repeating anymore. They need to be direct repetitions. If the output is non-repeating, no aggregation. With two different print statements, nothing is getting aggregated across frames. Instead, the console updates every half second with list including both blocks in each frame – ~2 blocks x 15 frames = 30 new entries.

If there are many individual statements that are different, almost nothing gets aggregated – although the console is still updating in bursts.

function setup() {
  createCanvas(400, 400);
}

function draw() {
  background(220);
  if(frameCount%2==0) print("2")
  if(frameCount%3==0) print("3")
  if(frameCount%4==0) print("4")
  if(frameCount%5==0) print("5")
  if(frameCount%6==0) print("6")
}
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