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Hi Tobias,
If you're a computer programmer, I'd definitly suggest using something other
than the RCX Code method of writing programs for the RCX. NQC is a nice
environment if you know C. If you know a language that supports ActiveX, you
can program the RCX using the Spirit ActiveX control. This is a bit harder than
using NQC, but lets you go the object-oriented route, distrubute binaries
rather than source, and links you to every other ActiveX control in existance.
I don't think NQC can do any of those things (Dave Baum, the creator of NQC, is
on this list, so I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong about that.)
The real limits to what you can do come from the limited amount of resources
you have available on the RCX. There's only 6k of memory and 32 variables
available for your programs.
Multitasking lets you have two pieces of code running at the same time. I'm
using it in the software I'm writing, but the more I use it, the more I have
questions about whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage. It definitly means
you have to do a bit more work, either in the design, the code, or both, to
make sure your different pieces of code don't step on each other. The O'Riley
Mindstorms book says you need multitasking to implement whats called a
Subsumption Architecture. I'm using a Subsumption Architecture, and it's
multitasking, but I really don't think it needs to be.
For me, the joy of programming the RCX comes from the interaction between my
code and the hardware. My code may say to spin a motor, but what happens when
that motor spins depends entirely on how I build my robot. The body of the
robot is literally an extension of its mind. It contains instructions just as
surely as the code does. Coming up with ways to exploit that relationship is
something totally new to me. This area is where you'll make up for the
limitations of the RCX. Small amounts of code can produce a lot of action in
the real world if you hook up the right hardware.
David Leeper (thinks the body is an extension of the brain)
In lugnet.robotics.rcx, Tobias Möller writes:
> I got my RIS a couple of weeks ago, and I have been building simple robots
> and programmed them using the program on the RIS cd.
>
> I´ve heard that you can program the RCX in very advanced ways, multitasking
> and so on.
> How advanced can it be?
> How do you use the advanced progamming features?
> And what does the multitasking do?
>
> --Tobias
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 | | How advanced can RCX programming be?
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| I got my RIS a couple of weeks ago, and I have been building simple robots and programmed them using the program on the RIS cd. I´ve heard that you can program the RCX in very advanced ways, multitasking and so on. How advanced can it be? How do you (...) (25 years ago, 10-Jan-00, to lugnet.robotics.rcx, lugnet.robotics)
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