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Subject: 
Re: Mindstorms NXT programming languages
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:56:51 GMT
Viewed: 
1948 times
  
In lugnet.robotics, dan miller <danbmil99@yahoo.com> wrote:
What you say below is entirely true, up to a point.  Note that most Lego
stuff (and this is true outside Lego -- it applies to most controller code
I've seen for robotics) is now using bytecode interpreters.  The memory
advantages far outweigh the CPU superiority of compiled code.

Python is a bytecode interpreter.  It's true that the libraries take up alot
of memory (>5meg for the latest version), but that is mostly Python source
code.  The actual interpreter is 20K on my machine.

So my thought is something like this: create a stripped-down bytecode
interpreter (VM) that understands _compiled_ Python code (the fact that
Python is compiled is usually hidden from casual users, but it's just like
Java -- it compiles a binary.)

A utility would exist that could recursively figure out exactly which
modules your code was using, and compile only those.  That stuff is loaded
onto the NXT and executed.  Support utilities for debugging, logging, and
possibly extended data analysis (vision, large map databases) can be
executed on the remote machine, and communicate with the NXT over a socket.

This is not too different from how things work today with NQC ir Interactive
C, or even with Java I suspect.  In reality, the choice of language is not
that critical to performance, within some bounds.  The advantage of Python
is that it is easy to learn, and there is a ton of Robotics code already
written for it.  It's become somewhat popular in AI circles too, I think
primarily for its polymorphic abilities (though that requires a compiler,
which probably exceeds the NXT's budget).

An alternative scenario would be more like what Pyro did with hemisson,
where the NXT would just be a dumb controller written in C, and Python would
always run on the host machine over bluetooth.  That might be fun, but in
the end I want a way to get the NXT to operate autonomously.

Dan,

  Once you get your hands on an NXT I encourage you to try.  Sounds like you
have considered the costs and it might work.  Don't wait for permission from us!
Just try it.  Often when people say it can't be done, I just consider it a
challenge.

Kev



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Mindstorms NXT programming languages
 
What you say below is entirely true, up to a point. Note that most Lego stuff (and this is true outside Lego -- it applies to most controller code I've seen for robotics) is now using bytecode interpreters. The memory advantages far outweigh the CPU (...) (18 years ago, 13-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)

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