Subject:
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Re: FLL not allowing NQC; Mindscript is allowed
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 10 Mar 2005 01:57:15 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <SJBAKER1@AIRMAILnomorespam.NET>
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Viewed:
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3098 times
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Mark Tarrabain wrote:
> John Hansen wrote:
>
> > Is there a good reason to allow MindScript and not NQC? No. With
> > MindScript
> > and LASM you can do anything you can do with NQC. But there are
> > *very* few
> > experienced MindScript programmers out there to teach the language to
> > FLL team
> > members.
>
>
> Yes, there is a good reason to not allow NQC. It's not produced by
> Lego. Period.
But not one single eensy-weensy bit of NQC ends up in the robot - it's
just a tool. This is the HUGE misunderstanding that people seem to have.
NQC *isn't* somehow loaded into the robot.
Are you telling me that I can't use any TOOLS that aren't made by Lego
either?
Why don't you answer the following questions for me:
1) The PC I'd use to run the Lego RIS software isn't made by Lego.
Is it OK to run RIS on a non-Lego-manufactured PC? (HINT: Yes)
2) Suppose I dislike the Lego 'brick-unsticker' tool (I don't know the
right name for it) - and instead use a gizmo on my pocketknife to
release a pair of stuck-together plates? Surely that's OK?
3) Suppose I use a printed table of gear ratios to help design the
drivetrain of my robot? Would that be disallowed because
Lego didn't provide the table?
4) Well, if that's OK, can I use a piece of software that computes
gear ratios if that software isn't made by Lego? Let's suppose
I know what overall gear ratio I want and I type in 1:400 - it
prints out the perfect set of gears that will produce a 1:400 ratio.
Is that OK?
5) How about if some enterprising student wrote a little VisualBasic
program to take a short piece of music notation and change it into
MindScript commands to play the tune? Is that illegal?
6) So how about a little program that changes some of the keywords
in a Mindscript file from Spanish to English so that Spanish speaking
students can write the MindScript commands in Spanish and have the
program convert them into command names that Mindscript understands?
There is really no gap between (6) - which I presume you'll allow is
legal - and NQC which you maintain is not.
If you somehow wish to bizarrely maintain that only SOFTWARE tools
have to be made by Lego - or perhaps only software tools that somehow
participate in making the byte-code - then you have to worry about
someone who might edit their MindScript code using a non-Lego text
editor like NotePad - a better text editor (like one of those fancy
syntax highlighting editors) would certainly make progamming easier,
and so would give students with access to it an advantage.
This is a very slippery slope!
---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkEmail: <sjbaker@link.com>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
http://tuxkart.sf.net http://prettypoly.sf.net
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: FLL not allowing NQC; Mindscript is allowed
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| (...) That doesn't matter. What matters is what people _perceive_... which is why non lego tools shouldn't be allowed. People who have more of a computer background would _tend_ to develop better robots, and would also tend towards using tools like (...) (20 years ago, 10-Mar-05, to lugnet.robotics)
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