Subject:
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Re: Why java is bad for Mindstorms
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sat, 21 Jan 2006 16:45:46 GMT
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Viewed:
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1562 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Michael Obenland wrote:
> Let's face ist: LEGO wants to sell Mindstorms units. And they want to
> sell it to the illiterate customer. Now imagine how things where at the
> old Mindstorms: We opened the box, piled out the brick, installed the
> programs on our PC and found, that that programming system was really,
> really limited.
>
> And some of us hacked the brick, some of us wrote new operating systems,
> adapted programming languages and made the brick shine. But the normal
> customer was helpless at this point. He was able to build the hardware
> for the legway, lets say. But he was not able to compile the program to
> run the legway. Installing Linux? Or Cygwin? Gnu toolchain? brickos?
> Compiling a kernel? Forget it. The comunity of mindstorms users divided
> into those who hacked and those, who admired but got frustrated at some
> point because they could watch some cool videos on some hompages but
> where not able to create the same model at home.
>
> I would like to know how many old bricks sit in their boxes, don't see
> the light, are forgotten and might be sold at eBay at some point to
> gather some money back.
>
> So I would really hope that LEGO gives the new programming system the
> possibility to be expanded. May be, Steve can write some code to get the
> legway running - using the original system! The avarage user can play
> with this, could learn something about a PID-loop, or just could sit and
> watch the legway on the floor. If the incorporation of new,
> sophisticated programs into the basic programming system would be
> possible, noone would be forced to study information technology or
> become a hacker to do really fancy things with the brick.
>
> What I want to say is, that it would be fun to run java on the nxt - for
> the comunity of hackers (or programmers or whizkids, you know what i
> mean). But for the community of all users, it would be better to gain
> useful profit from the hacker knowledge in a way all users can follow
> and use.
>
> Regards,
>
> Michael
Hi Michael,
While I agree with much of what your argue above, I disagree with your
conclusion.
The better the official language for NXT, the more diverse the users and
universal the solutions. Better the language the more people can play with the
extreme solutions (e.g. legway). See, we agree.
My guess is that it is not possible for the official language can be everything
to eveyone. Therefore I cannot see how java or any other 3rd party languages
for the NXT can be a bad thing. They only add positives.
Given the structure of your argument/conclusion, then you would also believe
that NQC was a bad thing, and I'd have to disagree there too. I doubt I am
alone.
We MUPS have been proactively working to make the official language the best
that it can be, specifically motivated by our philosophic concerns.
Please reread the on-line WIRED article again for insight into LEGO's
motivations with respect to third party support. The MUP and MDP programs are
externally visible efforts that show the extent of LEGO's committment to third
party support.
Now sit and think about where LEGO was at the release of the RCX. No
comparison.
Kev
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Why java is bad for Mindstorms
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| Hi Kevin, (...) Hm, you got me:) Nqc is fantastic. But the success comes from the fact that you get an easy and elegant to use visual interface and can stand as close as possible to the original, unaltered system. (...) I didn't know it is online. I (...) (18 years ago, 22-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Why java is bad for Mindstorms
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| Let's face ist: LEGO wants to sell Mindstorms units. And they want to sell it to the illiterate customer. Now imagine how things where at the old Mindstorms: We opened the box, piled out the brick, installed the programs on our PC and found, that (...) (18 years ago, 21-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)
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