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Subject: 
Re: Got my NXT on Wednesday
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.org.us.smart
Date: 
Sun, 9 Jul 2006 02:09:03 GMT
Viewed: 
3716 times
  
In lugnet.org.us.smart, Shane Brinkman-Davis wrote:

All I'm asking for is fixed-size, global, 1-d arrays of numbers.

   Yep, I agree. It why one of the first things I did was write a MyBlock that
would use file memory to hold and manage a 1-d array. Worked quite well, but it
was slow, and I'm not sure what the ultimate read-write limits are on the flash
memory (it will in theory only take so many cycles, and while downloading
programs or datafiles isn't going to cycle it very fast, having a program use it
as an array structure certainly will). I've got a MyBlock that will implement
limited 1-d arrays in regular fast RAM (right now up to a[5], although in
principle I could make it higher), but haven't really used it yet.
   This is one of the big advantages I can see in NXT-G: I'm already working
around problems, rather than just being stopped by them. this is very unlike
RIS!

Arrays of bits would be handy, too.

   Bit-level operations are something I'd dearly love to have, but when was the
last time a 12-year-old or FLL team ended up working at those levels*? Hopefully
we can get hooks under the hood to this stuff, but putting them in plain sight
of a world of kids is... asking for a world of trouble.

if you can't edit the [MyBlock] I/O, it could be awkward.

   You can always reselect and remake the MyBlock. Add a output block to an
existing MyBlock, highlight everything in the MyBlock except the plugs and the
new "external" connection, and make a new MyBlock. Not perfect, but not too
tough.

all my-blocks you ever made for every program show up in the
list (?).

   Yes, but in the help it's mentioned that you can hack the folder structure to
produce sort of a custom MyBlock pallet system, grouped as you like. And it
really does read like a hack, not something you'd want in there for a
12-year-old, but it's wonderful to see that level exposed in the on-line help.

For the purpose of manually operating the motors, I've succeeded
in writing a nice little program that lets you use the square button
to select a motor and the arrows to run the motor forward or backward.

   Nice. Posting a screenshot would likely get across a lot of it, and it would
be neat to see. I'm tossing examples into my BS folder.

*yes, I *do* know some "kids" who easily handle binary operations on the RCX
(mostly in a small town in central Indiana... strangely, near Steve Hassenplug).
But these are not the average LEGO Mindstorms users I think. Far from it.

--
Brian Davis



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Got my NXT on Wednesday
 
(...) Well, they already have a boolean data type. If we have arrays, arrays of booleans doesn't seem like much of a stretch. I'm not asking for bit-wise Ands and Ors, Shirts or Rolls here ;). (but isn't something like 50% of their mindstorms (...) (18 years ago, 10-Jul-06, to lugnet.org.us.smart)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Got my NXT on Wednesday
 
(...) All I'm asking for is fixed-size, global, 1-d arrays of numbers. I'd prefer floats or ints, but just ints (32 bit preferrably) would be fine. Arrays of Bits would be handy, too. There are many times when I'd like to make a 2D scan of an areas (...) (18 years ago, 8-Jul-06, to lugnet.org.us.smart)

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