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In lugnet.robotics, Brian Davis wrote:
> In the end, it seems there isn't a text-version of an NXT-G program. So, the
> question then becomes, can someone produce such a "translator" (that works well
> enough not to further complicate the issue), or if not how do you get around
> this (especially for teaching purposes)? To the first I don't know (but I can't
> do it), and for the second I can think of two ways (teach better NXT-G methods,
> or migrate to a language you like better).
Nice defense! I'm sure the NI engineers have anticipated the complexities
you've mentioned. Hence, no scary print-to-text. However, I'm not asking for
anything so ambitious. I hold that a print-to-text within the context of plain
NXT-G (no advanced options) is doable. It's probably all that's needed for
elementary school pedagogy.
As I recall, the student was programming a "master" bluetooth program. He had 4
touch sensors in a row. It worked something like: bump 1 = go forward; bump 2 =
go backward; bump 3 = turn left and bump 4 = turn right. He stored the numeric
value in a variabe and sent it as a bluetooth message before returning to the
beginning of the loop. He had 4 nested touch sensor switches where the positive
branch loaded the chosen variable and the negative branch opened to the
subsequent switches. This worked well and was easy to debug. He was teaching
all the other willing kids how he did it.
The fun started when he asked what he could do to fire a weapon (port A). I
suggested treating the 4 switches as a boolean array. He took off and created
nested switches in both the positive branches and negative branches. Yes,
there's probably a smarter way to do this program. However, it would have
probably been a shock to the kid's learning style. Specially right after he
barely completed, debugged, understood and taught the other kids his initial 4
switch program.
His NXT-G program got massive. We struggled to manage terminal point error
messages, endlessly dragging blocks of code in and out of the loop to correct
the corruptions, etc. He was beginning to think that there was probably a
better way. At which point, he would have been ready to be sprung up to a more
abstract concept. I mentioned doing the same thing in NQC and wrote the code
solution on the board. Had NQC been installed, this 10 year old would have done
it (given that I set it up for him to get right into the code.)
Anyway, in this kid's case, a simple top-down print-to-text would have helped
tremendously.
Brian, you do bring up a point that I would like to pursue further than I have
been willing to do in the past ... explore better NXT-G methods. First I'm
going to have to load advanced options.
Remind me please, how do I get advance NXT-G options installed and activated?
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | NXT programming with Logo
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| I've been lurking with interest, teach intro robotics in middle school among other tech subjects, and wonder if any of you use the latest version of MicroWorlds EX Robotics, V 1.6, to program NXT robots. I just found out about that capability so (...) (16 years ago, 23-Jul-08, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: NXT-G print to text?
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| (...) Suppose you want a team of programmers to write some new software to do X, Y, and Z. You give them some specifications and requirements for the software plus free Mountain Dew, and they go off to design and write your software. After several (...) (15 years ago, 6-Jan-09, to lugnet.events.brickworld, lugnet.robotics, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: NXT-G print to text?
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| (...) <grin>. I said "conclusions may now be drawn", not "all conclusions are equally likely to be correct". You seem to be assuming that NI is stupid or overconfident. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. When there's something I don't understand (...) (16 years ago, 19-Jul-08, to lugnet.robotics)
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