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As some of you know I've been working on a Lego Mindstorms book for Java
programmers. The official release date is March 15, 2002 so it seems like a
good time to announce it. The intent of this book is to get Java programmers
interested in Lego Mindstorms robotics. The title of the book is "Core Lego
Mindstorms Programming", part of Cay Horstmanns Core series with Prentice
Hall PTR. Originally this was going to be published along with Mario
Ferrari's book but ended up moving over to a different publisher. I'm not
sure what the final page count is yet since it's at the printers but I do
know it's over 500 pages.
Briefly, the following topics are covered in the book:
- an introduction to the Robotics Invention System
- other kits and products in the Mindstorms universe
- a feature overview of leJOS, the Java platform for the RCX brick
- installation instructions for leJOS
- setup instruction for a powerful IDE
- an introduction to Java
- differences between leJOS Java and Sun's Java
- the leJOS API (how to access motors, sensors, and other RCX components)
- an encyclopedia of the 129 unique Robotics Invention System parts
- building common Lego structures
- Behavior Control programming, a technique of programming insect level,
behavior based intelligence
- basic navigation concepts
- navigation using timing techniques
- navigation using rotation sensors
- building a simple proximity detector using only the parts in the kit
- building an accurate distance sensor using electronics
- building a wall follower
- building a compass sensor
- navigating with the compass sensor
- PC to RCX communications using Java Streams
- RCX to RCX communications using Java Streams
- controlling the RCX brick from a PC across the Internet
- setting up a simple server and JSP page to control the RCX (using a Bean)
- an advanced overview of leJOS (Contributed by Jose Solozano)
- memory saving strategies
- using the leJOS JVM to run other languages, such as NetRexx
- porting leJOS to other processors (Contributed by Jose Solozano)
- ordering sensors, kits, and other parts
- utilities available for leJOS
- web resources
I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people:
Jose for providing the technical review of the book
Paul Andrews and Juergen Stuber, who have been leading the leJOS project
since Jose "semi-retired" from the scene
Philippe "Philo" Hurbain and Claude Baumann for helping so much with the
electronics projects
Cay for allowing this book to become part of his Core series of books.
Greg Doench for coordinating the creation of this book
Harold Cabrera and Jeff Gillespie for rendering the instructions for the robots
Finally, enormous thanks to Lego for the product that started it all!
Brian Bagnall
http://www.mts.net/~bbagnall
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Hi all,
As some of you also know, there is a companion book to Mario and Giulio
Ferrari's book "Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms" coming out at
about the same time (not to rain on your announcement Brian ;-) titled
"Programming Lego Mindstorms with Java" also published by Syngress
Publishing. It will provide comprehensive coverage of the available
Java APIs for programming the RCX including the leJOS platform with an
accompanying source code CD.
Dario Laverde
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Hi Brian
The list of the covered topics makes your book very promising. I'm going to
pre-order it right now.
Good luck!
Mario
"Brian Bagnall" <bbagnall@mts.net> wrote:
> As some of you know I've been working on a Lego Mindstorms book for Java
> programmers. The official release date is March 15, 2002 so it seems like • a
> good time to announce it. The intent of this book is to get Java • programmers
> interested in Lego Mindstorms robotics. The title of the book is "Core • Lego
> Mindstorms Programming", part of Cay Horstmanns Core series with Prentice
> Hall PTR. Originally this was going to be published along with Mario
> Ferrari's book but ended up moving over to a different publisher. I'm not
> sure what the final page count is yet since it's at the printers but I do
> know it's over 500 pages.
>
> Briefly, the following topics are covered in the book:
> - an introduction to the Robotics Invention System
> - other kits and products in the Mindstorms universe
> - a feature overview of leJOS, the Java platform for the RCX brick
> - installation instructions for leJOS
> - setup instruction for a powerful IDE
> - an introduction to Java
> - differences between leJOS Java and Sun's Java
> - the leJOS API (how to access motors, sensors, and other RCX components)
> - an encyclopedia of the 129 unique Robotics Invention System parts
> - building common Lego structures
> - Behavior Control programming, a technique of programming insect level,
> behavior based intelligence
> - basic navigation concepts
> - navigation using timing techniques
> - navigation using rotation sensors
> - building a simple proximity detector using only the parts in the kit
> - building an accurate distance sensor using electronics
> - building a wall follower
> - building a compass sensor
> - navigating with the compass sensor
> - PC to RCX communications using Java Streams
> - RCX to RCX communications using Java Streams
> - controlling the RCX brick from a PC across the Internet
> - setting up a simple server and JSP page to control the RCX (using a • Bean)
> - an advanced overview of leJOS (Contributed by Jose Solozano)
> - memory saving strategies
> - using the leJOS JVM to run other languages, such as NetRexx
> - porting leJOS to other processors (Contributed by Jose Solozano)
> - ordering sensors, kits, and other parts
> - utilities available for leJOS
> - web resources
>
> I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people:
>
> Jose for providing the technical review of the book
>
> Paul Andrews and Juergen Stuber, who have been leading the leJOS project
> since Jose "semi-retired" from the scene
>
> Philippe "Philo" Hurbain and Claude Baumann for helping so much with the
> electronics projects
>
> Cay for allowing this book to become part of his Core series of books.
>
> Greg Doench for coordinating the creation of this book
>
> Harold Cabrera and Jeff Gillespie for rendering the instructions for the • robots
>
> Finally, enormous thanks to Lego for the product that started it all!
>
> Brian Bagnall
> http://www.mts.net/~bbagnall
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Thanks for the kind words Mario!
I just want to mention to others who might be ordering to please use the
Amazon Associates link on our leJOS web page:
http://lejos.sourceforge.net
All profits generated through this program will be used to obtain a domain
name and hold contests for building Lego Robots. Hopefully we will be able
to raise enough money to provide some good prizes for regular robot building
competitions in the future. NONE of the money will be used by any of the
leJOS developers as leJOS has always been a labor of love for all of us. The
Amazon Associates account is managed by Juergen Stuber, Jose Solozano, Paul
Andrews and myself.
In lugnet.robotics, Mario Ferrari writes:
> Hi Brian
>
> The list of the covered topics makes your book very promising. I'm going to
> pre-order it right now.
>
> Good luck!
> Mario
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In lugnet.announce, Brian Bagnall writes:
> As some of you know I've been working on a Lego Mindstorms book for Java
> programmers. The official release date is March 15, 2002 so it seems like a
> good time to announce it. The intent of this book is to get Java programmers
> interested in Lego Mindstorms robotics. The title of the book is "Core Lego
> Mindstorms Programming", part of Cay Horstmanns Core series with Prentice
> Hall PTR. Originally this was going to be published along with Mario
> Ferrari's book but ended up moving over to a different publisher. I'm not
> sure what the final page count is yet since it's at the printers but I do
> know it's over 500 pages.
Sounds great! Can't wait to get it.
Later,
Gary
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Dario, I thought your book was supposed to come out last year ,but then you
said it was cancelled by the publisher. Why did they decide to cancel it and
then renew it?
In lugnet.robotics, Dario Laverde <dario@escape.com> writes:
> Hi all,
>
> As some of you also know, there is a companion book to Mario and Giulio
> Ferrari's book "Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms" coming out at
> about the same time (not to rain on your announcement Brian ;-) titled
> "Programming Lego Mindstorms with Java" also published by Syngress
> Publishing. It will provide comprehensive coverage of the available
> Java APIs for programming the RCX including the leJOS platform with an
> accompanying source code CD.
>
> Dario Laverde
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In lugnet.announce, Brian Bagnall writes:
As some of you know I've been working on a Lego Mindstorms book for Java
programmers. The official release date is March 15, 2002 so it seems like a
good time to announce it. The intent of this book is to get Java programmers
interested in Lego Mindstorms robotics. The title of the book is "Core Lego
Mindstorms Programming", part of Cay Horstmanns Core series with Prentice
Hall PTR.
Dear Brian
I have ordered my copy from Amazon. Looks very interesting. One question -
is it compatible with Java version 1.3?
With best wishes
Peter Ridsdale
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Hi Michelle,
Yes it was supposed to come out last year - it was delayed but now it's
nearly completed. In addition to myself the author list is as follows
(to give credit where it's due):
Guilio Ferrari, Jamie Waldinger, Soren Hilmer, Jurgen Steuber, Andy Gombos, Mick Porter, Ron Gonsalzez
I was not informed to the reasons why for the delay - I know as much as
you do from Bruce's post. And as you can read from his post, he moved
from one publisher to another (from Syngress to Prentice Hall) and one
can only surmise as to what happened.
Ther will be bit of overlap obviously, but the content does differ
significantly.
I'm sure you'll be able to make room for two new books on your shelf. ;-)
-dario
Michelle Hebert wrote:
> Dario, I thought your book was supposed to come out last year ,but then you
> said it was cancelled by the publisher. Why did they decide to cancel it and
> then renew it?
>
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Yes, it's 100% compatible with the latest versions of the Java SDK. I use
1.3.1 myself and it works great. There were originally some problems with
the SDK 1.4 beta but those have been worked out.
In lugnet.robotics, Peter Ridsdale writes:
> Dear Brian
>
> I have ordered my copy from Amazon. Looks very interesting. One question -
> is it compatible with Java version 1.3?
>
> With best wishes
>
> Peter Ridsdale
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I assume with the offfical 1.4 release? I have had several problems with
the offical release including stability problems, incompatible code (some
wierd 1.2 stuff), slow performance, and hanging event threads (they never
return from calling the event methods). I think I will wait for 1.4.1. :)
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Bagnall" <bbagnall@mts.net>
To: <lego-robotics@crynwr.com>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: New Book - Core Lego Mindstorms
> Yes, it's 100% compatible with the latest versions of the Java SDK. I use
> 1.3.1 myself and it works great. There were originally some problems with
> the SDK 1.4 beta but those have been worked out.
>
> In lugnet.robotics, Peter Ridsdale writes:
> > Dear Brian
> >
> > I have ordered my copy from Amazon. Looks very interesting. One • question -
> > is it compatible with Java version 1.3?
> >
> > With best wishes
> >
> > Peter Ridsdale
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lego-robotics@crynwr.com (Andy Gombos) writes:
>
> I assume with the offfical 1.4 release? I have had several problems with
> the offical release including stability problems, incompatible code (some
> wierd 1.2 stuff), slow performance, and hanging event threads (they never
> return from calling the event methods). I think I will wait for 1.4.1. :)
I have made the necessary modifications to leJOS
(there was a clash with the new assert keyword) and
then tried the Java SDK 1.4 with a few tests, it worked.
What you have to do is use the CVS version and add "-target 1.1"
as an option to lejosc and javac whenever you are compiling
for the leJOS linker, because it only understands 1.1 classfile format.
Regularly I use 1.3
BTW, I hope you always read the licenses:
5. Notice of Automatic Software Updates from Sun. You
acknowledge that the Software may automatically download,
install, and execute applets, applications, software
extensions, and updated versions of the Software from Sun
("Software Updates"), which may require you to accept updated
terms and conditions for installation. If additional terms and
conditions are not presented on installation, the Software
Updates will be considered part of the Software and subject to
the terms and conditions of the Agreement.
Anybody got a Linux sandbox w/o internet access for this rascal?
Jürgen
--
Jürgen Stuber <stuber@loria.fr>
http://www.loria.fr/~stuber/
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You have to wonder how the SDK could possibly do that. The only opportunity
I can see for it doing this is with the binary files javac and java, but I
doubt they have auto-update features. Maybe the applet JVM has this?
p.s. Kudos for reading the license. You are probably the first person to do
so since the SDK was released. ;)
In lugnet.robotics, Juergen Stuber writes:
> I have made the necessary modifications to leJOS
> (there was a clash with the new assert keyword) and
> then tried the Java SDK 1.4 with a few tests, it worked.
> What you have to do is use the CVS version and add "-target 1.1"
> as an option to lejosc and javac whenever you are compiling
> for the leJOS linker, because it only understands 1.1 classfile format.
>
> Regularly I use 1.3
>
> BTW, I hope you always read the licenses:
>
> 5. Notice of Automatic Software Updates from Sun. You
> acknowledge that the Software may automatically download,
> install, and execute applets, applications, software
> extensions, and updated versions of the Software from Sun
> ("Software Updates"), which may require you to accept updated
> terms and conditions for installation. If additional terms and
> conditions are not presented on installation, the Software
> Updates will be considered part of the Software and subject to
> the terms and conditions of the Agreement.
>
> Anybody got a Linux sandbox w/o internet access for this rascal?
>
> Jürgen
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Awesome book, got it, read it cover-to-cover. Well written, good projects, very
comprehensive.
Kinda took the wind out of my sails, really, knowing somebody else had already
done so much!
Still I guess if you want to produce a really awesome robot it doesn't hurt to
have somebody else do *some* of the hard work :-)
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