How can I make music without knowing an instrument?
You can't make music without learning an instrument.
Maybe the instrument is a computer with PD or DAW software but it is still a musical instrument that you have to learn to play.
There is no way around spending hours learning and practicing whatever instrument you pick.
What makes a computer hard to learn to play is that it has too many options. You don't learn anything playing trumpet for a month, then changing to piano for 2 weeks, then trying a new guitar that just came out for 2 months. That though is basically what many computer musicians do.
You need to pick the software setup and then spend a long time learning it and don't switch instruments.
And here are some nice composition created with Nodal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1BzGaz62PE, https://youtu.be/gi61bHLyDsU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTpyIT8dWIA.
> you have to use numbers instead of line lengths
That's the whole point of Nodal; you represent musical patterns (and control flow) with graphical means. Entering numbers is close to Midi event lists and has little to do with Nodal's approach. Max/Pd are great tools, but focus on the processing and signal flow aspect (i.e. the machine which generates the music/noise), not the representation of the music.