Subject:
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Re: NQC for sale?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 8 Jan 2004 20:42:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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1292 times
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In lugnet.robotics, James Isom wrote:
> In lugnet.robotics, John Hansen wrote:
> > Interesting. Based on the preview "NQC" really means "NQC within BricxCC". I
> > wonder whether they actually ever mention "BricxCC" directly or whether they
> > simply use it in all their screenshots.
> >
> > John Hansen
>
> In all their sample code they post this little blurb, "Click here for code you
> can copy into a BricxCC file."
Personally, I am a tiny bit annoyed by this $99 CD-ROM tutorial. Caveat: I
haven't seen the actual CD or any accompanying documentation. My slight
annoyance is based solely on having looked at the preview on the web.
I don't recall ever having had any communication with Robin Shoop (Director of
Education Outreach) or Tom Gordon (Technical Expert) about their plan to use
BricxCC in a CD-based programming tutorial. While such communication is
definitely not required by the BricxCC license, I would have to say that
professional courtesy, at least, demands that some sort of communication occur.
Shoop lists the people owed some gratitude for their contributions to the
project but (in the preview, at least) there is no mention of Dave Baum or Mark
Overmars or myself (or any of the IC authors).
The tutorial contains many screenshots of BricxCC and, while on the sample code
tabs it does happen to directly mention BricxCC, for the most part NQC is the
name used to describe the programming environment (as if they were one and the
same). This is certainly a common misconception that I've heard expressed in
many emails I've answered, but a professionally-produced tutorial, especially
one done under the Carnegie Mellon University name, should keep the distinction
between the IDE and the compiler clearer. There is, for instance, a hyperlink
labeled "Tools Palette: NQC" which takes the user to a page where snapshots of
all the BricxCC Tool windows are described as you roll over the items on the
Tools menu. (The text describing each tool window would have benefitted
substantially had the author corresponded with me.) This sort of muddling
occurs throughout the web preview. Nowhere, at least in the preview, is there
an explanation of what a "BricxCC file" is or what it has to do with NQC.
Given the typos I have seen in the web preview and the unfortunate lack of
clarity regarding the relationship between BricxCC (the IDE) and NQC (the
compiler) I can't say that I would recommend this CD tutorial.
John Hansen
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: NQC for sale?
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| (...) In all their sample code they post this little blurb, "Click here for code you can copy into a BricxCC file." James (URL) (21 years ago, 8-Jan-04, to lugnet.robotics)
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