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LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming Guide (Technology in Action)

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Manufacturer: Apress
List Price: $24.99
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The reader of this book will be someone looking for more detailed information on the NXT-G programming language used to program the LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit.

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming Guide is suitable for young programmers, age 10 and up, as well as parents and teachers who want to learn the new language for themselves or be able to assist students/children with learning to properly program their robots.

• Includes easy-to-follow examples for each and every programming block
• Provides programming techniques simple enough to be understood by young programmers, age 10 and up.
• Provides a test robot (with instructions) in the appendix for running the programs

What youll learn

• Understand the basics of computer programming.
• Easily program your robot with the NXT-G visual programming language.
• See how to implement basic, intermediate, and advanced programs.
• Learn how to program for
  • Moving
  • Waiting
  • Recording
  • Stopping
  • Displaying messages
  • Sending messages
  • Defining the duration of an activity
  • Creating random behavior
• Practice with a free sample program.

Who is this book for?

This book is for people new to programming (10 years old and up) or for experienced programmers new to the NXT-G programming language.

DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.892
EAN: 9781590598719
ISBN: 1590598717
Label: Apress
Manufacturer: Apress
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 196
Publication Date: 2007-07-12
Publisher: Apress
Studio: Apress


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide
• LEGO Mindstorms NXT
• The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book: Design, Invent, and Build
• LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure (Technology in Action)
• Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms NXT


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Best guide to NXT-G!
Comment: This is the best source for NXT-G programming!

Many Mindstorms NXT books have information on NXT-G, but they either do not go into every detail, or they make it too complicated. In this book, James Kelly covers everything you need to know; he explains what robots and programming are using simple examples. He has a chapter for every single programming block and explains them in easy to understand terms. He shows how to create Myblocks (custom blocks using multiple basic blocks). He also teaches you how to use pseudo-code before going to a computer. One of the most helpful sections in the book (for me) is the "wired" chapter, where he explains how to use data wires using easy explanation. Do not get the impression that the book is simple and basic; it just explains things so well that anyone could understand.

Over all this is one of the first books you should buy if you want to know all about programming the NXT!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Strictly for young beginners
Comment: I have a lot of respect for the author of this book and his work for the NXT community.

I have been a programmer before, from assembler coding to high-level pseudo-code like languages. So, when I first saw the NXT-G environment, I thought "gee this is so simple, I can do this very easily". However much to my chagrin, my NXT-G programs are terrible. They do not work, I cannot tell why (that is: I cannot diagnose and debug the programs I write). I can follow someone else's programs and understand the flow, but the quality of my own programs is pretty awful.

So when I read at the product page of Jim's book, that "This book is for people new to programming (10 years old and up) or for experienced programmers new to the NXT-G programming language", this last phrase prompted me to purchase the book with the hope of learning the technique of NXT-G programming (as an adult with prior programming experience).

Well, much to my surprise, this book is not suitable for anybody with experience in computer programming. It may be very suitable for kids or teens learning their first programming steps. Just by the language it is written in, I would guess the author clearly had the young readership in mind when writing this book.

It is because of that misleading description that I am unhappy to rate it with just 1 star. For another audience it could be a suitable book, (maybe as a learning companion for 10-15 year-old's who are making their first inroads into programming).

However, the expectations I had due to that misleading statement in the product description page made me a disappointed customer.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not useful
Comment: I was hoping to learn more about NXT-G. I didn't. There is nothing in this book that is not in the online help files that come with the software. There are a number of errors. The X/Y coordinate system on page 188 in wrong, half of the time in the discussion of the logic block he calls it the compare block. It expected much more from this book. In the discussion of the logic block he shows how to evaluate 2 things. That is very simple and covered in the on-line notes. He doesn't explain how to compare 3 things or 4 things. This is actually tricky to figure out. I did but an example in the book would have saved me a lot of time. As you know my now, telling the bot to turn 90 degrees will not turn the bot 90 degrees. He notes that--in the appendix--but doesn't tell you how to get accurate results. That would have been useful. It would have been useful if the author had shown how add to the number in a variable block. This is useful if you want your bot to keep a running tally of something, like keeping score. There are many more examples I could site but this will do. I did, however, discover some very useful tips in The Lego Mindsotrms NXT Idea Book. That book too has its flaws but is worth the money unlike this book.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great resource for NXT-G programming
Comment: This book covers a lot of ground on NXT-G programming and is a must have resource for anyone serious about programming in NXT-G as the on line help included with the NXT set is not adequate.
As a professional programmer and a robotics hobbyist, I would recommend that anyone wanting to bring out the full potential of their NXT creations move to a text based language like Robot-C instead. While NXT-G is good for simple programs, it is just to difficult to create anything of any complexity as the graphical elements and all those connecting lines distract you from what you are trying to accomplish.
I am giving this book 5 stars because it does well at what it is, a reference / guide to the NXT-G programming language. It is NXT-G itself that I would only give 2 stars.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Comment: We bought this book for our nine year old son who had recently received the Mindstorms NXT for Christmas. He could not put the book down - read it from cover to cover and thinks it is a great book. Highly recommend.

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