Subject:
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Comparative Book Review
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 6 Dec 1999 14:41:57 GMT
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Viewed:
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783 times
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The Mindstorms Books
A Comparative Review
by Jack Gregory
The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots, Jonathan B. Knudsen,
O'Reilly, 247pp., $24.95
Dave Baum's Definitive Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS, Dave Baum, Apress, 385pp
+CD-ROM, $24.95
Executive Summary:
Get them both if you are serious, get Knudsen for a broader and clearer
sweep of the Mindstorms universe, get Baum for some more depth on NQC and
building.
As one of the people who bought a Mindstorms on the day it came out, follow
LUGNET daily at least, and am still hooked on this great Technics line, I
feel pretty lucky to have two books on my favorite subject come out about a
year after the first Mindstorms hit the street.
Jonathan Knudsen's book, one of the famous O'Reilly series, was the first to
come out, and I couldn't wait for the lower Amazon price; I went straight to
O'Reilly. It is truly a great book, but the for the Mindstorms-crazed, it
is just a bit too shallow. I want especially a book-length treatment of
custom sensor development (Mike?), not a chapter. But Knudsen's clear
description of how all the various things going on in our expanding
collection of projects really is beautiful. You come to have a total
understanding of where NQC, pB-Forth, and LegOS fit into the LEGO-supplied
world of RCX Code, Firmware, and ROM.
Other than wanting more, the only thing I was disappointed about in Knudsen
was the rather murky photographs, which are such a step back from clear LEGO
instruction sheets that it really reminds you just how good a job LEGO does
with their instructions. Yesterday, I watched my 4-year old put together a
small LEGO set ("Duplos are for babies," he says) with total confidence and
no errors. He wouldn't have had an easy time with the photos, often black
pieces in front of black pieces, that comprise the method of showing
building steps in Knudsen. If you are patient and have some experience,
they are actually OK, so I give this particular problem only a small
demerit.
The only annoying thing is that some of the photos clearly show pieces that
have not been fully pressed on to each other (e.g. p42, step 5). I don't
know why this bothers me, but it jumps right out.
The Baum book is fatter than the Knudsen. But with larger type and more
space devoted to building instructions, it is probably about the same amount
of text. Baum uses a computer-generated method to do pictures, but
surprisingly not the LCAD-based one you would expect. Instead, it appears
to be a more traditional CAD modeling approach. But because the colors of
the pieces are mostly black in the Mindstorms set, we again have some pretty
murky pictures. However, there is no question Baum's pictures are clearer.
Adding to the clarity problem, both books are of course entirely in black
and white, taking away yet another important visual element. If there was
one graphic thing that I noticed right away in Baum, it was the fact that
you can't "see through" the holes in a gray plate when a black piece is
behind it (e.g. p58, fig 4-2). You get used to it, but it struck me as odd.
Not quite as jarring as those incompletely assembled pieces, though.
Dave Baum is the creator of NQC, so it should come as no surprise that he
gives it more coverage than Knudsen. But I also liked Baum's RCX Code
examples; instead of just copying the screen, new, clearer-for-print artwork
was made. It comes out very well. But of course RCX Code is tossed off
almost at once; both authors make it clear that the LEGO-provided
environment might be useful for kids or getting started, but serious people
will use an aftermarket tool.
Baum also devotes many more pages to examples and instructions than Knudsen.
You really could use the Baum book as a little handbook, as he proceeds
through several models that demonstrate a few new things each time. It is
more like a typical software book, complete with a CD in the back, that
includes NQC, all the examples, and so on. What Baum doesn't do is tell you
about the rest of the things going on in the Mindstorms world, from other
languages to complete operating systems.
Overall, I am happy with both books. I am quite surprised that both chose
not to use the established LEGO CAD systems for the instructions. However,
there may be problems turning these into book-quality illustrations. I
think both books needed a bit more on Technics geometry and parts usage;
these are things that would be useful for a long time. Baum does the better
job, but there are still books that need to be written.
When I first heard there were two books coming out, I thought that it would
be a disaster, with both covering the same ground. But, while there is
overlap, both manage to have their own sense of direction. I was glad to
have the Knudsen first, and it is what I would recommend to read first.
When you are ready to get deep into NQC, or you want more building ideas and
instructions, then you hit the Baum book.
Both books manage to mention the newer 1.5 software, but clearly had little
time with it. Of course, neither were aware of the new Scout SDK, now
published by LEGO. I fear that the terrain is changing so fast that we will
see (in fact, I hope I see) a new LEGO-supported LASM API for the RCX, which
will become the new standard basis for serious programming of Mindstorms.
The biggest threat to these books is not reviewers, but obsolescence. Get
'em while they are hot!
[Bias, disclaimers: Who the heck am I to put myself up and review these
guys? Well, I don't know either of them, so at least I can't be accused of
bias. I figured that those that DO know them might be reluctant to be
totally honest in a review, or would fear ticking one of them off if they
wrote they didn't like their book. I do respect both of them, and greatly
value their contributions to my fun. And I figure they will probably agree,
or at least get over it if I say their pictures are murky. My
qualifications? I know how to read, write, and know the subject area. I am
enough of a newbie that I actually learned something from these books. But
don't take this as the last word. Feel free to respond if you think I
missed something big, or didn't get it right.]
--Jack Gregory
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Comparative Book Review
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| J G Gregory wrote in message ... (...) Thanks for the review. This is just the sort of thing I was looking for! The Baum book is on it's way... :-) Mark (25 years ago, 7-Dec-99, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Comparative Book Review
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| Thanks for the nice review. J G Gregory <jgg@ultranet.com> wrote in message news:FMBr2y.41n@lugnet.com... (...) I assume that was for me. I try to publish everything I know about RCX sensors on my web pages for everyone to share for free. Mike G. (...) (25 years ago, 8-Dec-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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