NXC Documentation & Samples
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007A Not eXactly Complete (NXC) version of the NXC Guide is now available on a new NXC Docs page. It is based on the original NQC Guide written by Dave Baum and John Hansen.
http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nbc/
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NXC Beta 24
Monday, January 29th, 2007I released beta 24 of NBC and NXC early this morning. The source code, the Win32 binary and the Linux binary are all up on the NBC site. The Mac OSX build will be up later this evening. I’m nearly ready to post the first draft of the NXC Guide as well.
Be sure to also get the latest test release of BricxCC for updated syntax highlighting support for the newly added API functions in NBC and NXC.
Read on for a list of fixes and enhancements.
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Disk Reader
Sunday, January 28th, 2007The disk reader is just one of the little tests that I’ve been working on with my NXT. At present the data that the robot reads is rather useless but, with a good imagination I think that you could come up with some interesting applications for this robot. The robot is very easy to put together. The hard bit is getting the data to mean something and get the robot do something with the data.
If you make anything interesting with the disk reader and you want to show people what you have made. Email me and I’ll post it up here for others to see.
Till NXTime.
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An NXC Library for Bluetooth Communication
Thursday, January 25th, 2007Daniele Benedettelli wrote an NXC library that simplifies the sending and receiving Bluetooth message.
Via The NXT Step.
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Light that Screen!
Thursday, January 25th, 2007
Philo shows how to light the NXT’s screen.
Via The NXT Step.
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New NXC beta release
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007I have released a new beta (b21) of NBC with built-in support for the Not eXactly C (NXC) programming language. The sourcecode and the Win32 binary are already up on the NBC website. The Mac OSX binary and Linux binary will be up later this evening.
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Compiler optimizations in NXT-G
Sunday, January 7th, 2007Having published my “Template VI Library Block” I received an email from NI, explaining how a similar code optimization can be done in a more “regular” fashion:
Consider a program/block diagram which has a “switch” (i.e. a case structure) and each case performs a different task. The compiler decides whether to include in the final program all case diagrams if, and only if, the case structure selection input is connected to a control and this control is wired to a terminal in the Implementation VI connector pane (and thus will have a drawer terminal in the NXT-G IDE).
One the other hand, if you wire a constant to the case structure selection input, or wire a control which is not connected to a connector (and thus not accessible in NXT-G drawer) - the compiler will add only the relevant piece of code into the final program file.
Having published this, I still find my block useful as it makes adding functions easier, and automatically shows the the right description in the control panel.
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RobotC Available for Purchase from LEGO!
Sunday, January 7th, 2007
Hot new! The attached image is taken from the most recent LEGO Education catalog (North America). It’s currently being sent to people on Lego’s mailing list. As you can read, RobotC is available for purchase from LEGO and is branded as a LEGO Education product!
In case you don’t know - RobotC is an alternative programming platform for NXT and RCX. It is a C-based programming language (with some C++ extensions). It was design by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy, and been freely availalble as time-limited beta for quite some time. It is now sold as a LEGO Educational product for $49 (Single Copy). I’ve heard that a direct download option will be available soon from CMU, hopefully for somewhat cheap price.
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Combining studded with studless Legos
Sunday, January 7th, 2007
Our forums user PTP posted this nice picture showing various ways one can combine studded with studless Legos. Since I find this very important, I have published it here. Click on the picture for a higher resolution image.
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Bigger Font for NXT LCD Display
Saturday, January 6th, 2007The standard font for the NXT is 6W x 8H pixels per character. The RobotC development system now supports a larger font where characters are 12W x 16H. Here’a a photo of the NXT LCD comparing the standard and expanded font sizes.
The font file was developed by Jason Rail…. Thanks.
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