Arne Eigenfeldt has written a Cycling ‘74 blog entry about Managing Complex Patches in Max:
One of the beauties of Max is its simplicity: the ability to quickly create a patch that does something artistically interesting. Part of this has to do with its visual programming style - patchcords allow us to see the relationship between graphic objects. However, unless you limit yourself to creating only straightforward patches, your patch can become a spaghetti-like series of connections that confound attempts at debugging. …