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 15:07:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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3248 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
> So, just how is your son constrained? What can be done in NQC, that can not be done
> with Robolab?
Probably nothing. There certainly are things you can do in MindScript that you
couldn't do in NQC until recently. You couldn't use pointers, for example. But
I don't think that is what Steve Baker is arguing. He's arguing that his son's
software development experience in NQC is not allowed to be used in FLL
competitions (i.e., it is constrained) while that other kid's experience
designing efficient gear trains is not constrained.
Obviously there are many kinds of mechanical design experience a child might
possess that they aren't allowed to use in FLL competitions (such as those
involving radio controlled servos, for example) but restricting the type and
quantity of hardware and the firmware allowed in an FLL competition is
reasonable because of the benefits to the competition achieved via that
restriction. There are no benefits to the competition achieved via restricting
the allowable programming tools to those only produced or sold by LEGO. In
fact, there are strong arguments that suggest there are serious detriments to
the competition because of this restriction.
This restriction narrows the pool of available adult volunteers substantially.
It also excludes from participation all the kids who would be interested if they
could use other software development tools. I can't come up with an argument
for why that is a good thing.
You can use MindScript to compete in FLL competitions but you can't edit it or
download it using BricxCC. You can't even compile it and download it using the
LCC32 command line compiler I wrote which is simply a very thin .exe wrapper
around the vpbcom.dll COM object that LEGO uses behind the scenes in RIS and
ScriptEd. Can anyone explain this to me? I didn't think so.
John Hansen
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: FLL not allowing NQC; Mindscript is allowed
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| (...) OK - so there are two horrible implications in what you say: 1) People who have more of a mechanical background are allowed to have a huge advantage - but people who have more of a software background have to be constrained to prevent them (...) (20 years ago, 10-Mar-05, to lugnet.robotics)
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