Subject:
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Re: Mindstorms NXT programming languages
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:17:57 GMT
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Original-From:
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William Grant <tanarrifujitsu@optusnet./SayNoToSpam/com.au>
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Viewed:
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1697 times
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Juergen Stuber wrote:
> Hi William,
>
> William Grant <tanarrifujitsu@optusnet.com.au> writes:
>
> > It is unlikely that Java would be an option, as implementing a Java VM
> > would create massive overhead.
>
>
> I'm pretty sure the official language also uses a VM like
> on RCX and Spybots, so there you have your "massive overhead".
The bytecode interpreter on the RCX/Spybot is somewhat simpler than
Java, I am pretty sure.
> Lejos is a good approximation of a Java VM in the RCX,
> and the NXT has 2 to 10 times as much memory depending on
> what you can do with the flash part.
> Even on the RCX speed is not a big issue, memory is the problem,
> so the NXT will be a huge improvement.
Lejos is a small Java VM, yes. As you say, whether a proper(ish) one is
feasible depends on what access we have to the flash memory (64kb isn't
very much to work in...).
> > Java is not ideal for low powered, embedded devices.
> > C would not require any VM, as it is compiled into native machine code.
>
>
> C is not ideal for human programmers :-)
What is wrong with C? There is a reason for it being (most probably) the
most popular language on the planet! C is speedy, flexible, cross
platform, compiles on virtually any processor. Java requires a hefty VM
to run, it's slow, you have less control over everything, and is quite
inferior to C.
> I'm sure there will be plenty of languages to play with on the NXT.
With any luck LEGO will make it easy for a number to work, otherwise a
lot of the reverse-engineerers will get onto it quickly. If the primary
processor is an ARM7 as everything says it is, it should be trivial to
compile C, C++ and other languages supported by GCC, as that is one of
the supported architectures. Hopefully, LEGO will have realised that
people want more flexibility, so they will have eliminated most of the
reverse engineering work required. We can only hope.
> Jürgen
William.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Mindstorms NXT programming languages
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| Hi William (...) not much actually for the subset that Lejos implements. The most complex part of Lejos is the scheduler (multiple threads, waiting on monitors). W.r.t. speed we are faster, but the standard firmware has a more uniform timing. (...) (...) (18 years ago, 12-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Mindstorms NXT programming languages
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| Hi William, (...) I'm pretty sure the official language also uses a VM like on RCX and Spybots, so there you have your "massive overhead". Lejos is a good approximation of a Java VM in the RCX, and the NXT has 2 to 10 times as much memory depending (...) (18 years ago, 8-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)
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