UPDATE: Steve has made some format changes to make the LIST a little easier to read - Jim
Steve Hassenplug has tried to collect as much information as possible about the (many!) programming options availible so far for the NXT, and put up a nice comparision table. He's gotten input from a number of us on this, although some cells in the table still need to be filled out or updated (for instance, we're still trying to figure out the "best" way to compare and contrast the speed of the different offerings). If you can think of something else to add to this, please feel free to comment here and I'll try to get the suggestions to Steve. Notice that this table already lists 9 different options for the NXT, less than a year after its release... and that's not including off-brick remote-control type applications a yet! Impressive growth. Anybody want to comment?
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Brian Davis
19 comments:
I'd just add iCommand to the off-brick command tools. It is from creators of Lejos, all in Java.
Brian or I will let Steve H. know... thanks for the note.
Jim
Off brick controllers is missing iCommand like he said, perl LEGO::NXT http://nxt.ivorycity.com/ and ruby-nxt http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-nxt/
This is a SUPER list.
Actually this rapid growth in programming environments is a danger to the continued success of the product (IMHO), but lists like this certainly points out which is least relevant in most cases.
What would be interesting now is a possibility to vote what users use at the moment/consider in the near future. A convergence is likely happen, and a large user-base is just as good an indicator as functionality.
A large user base *is* probably a good proxy for functionality (or at least usability), but with two cautions. First, there are some environments that have been around a lot longer than others (like NXT-G) or have better distribution systems (like NXT-G, at the moment). And second, every user base has some built-in biases that are hard to remove. So, particularly early in the game (and this is still, to my thinking, early in the game), such a poll might be misleading too. It's a tough call (nearly as tough as figuring out how "good" a particular environment is in the first place).
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Brian Davis
Very nice.
Could someone clarify what exactly is the advantage of NXT-G over NI LabView Toolkit. The table makes them look identical, but I'd believe there are some underlying differences?
Thanks for the comparison.
Tony, are these three all "remote control" options?
Thanks
Steve
I agree Brian: this is early in the game :)
I am only looking for indications of where the wind blows... If we repeat the poll once in a while, it will be more interesting to spot the changes over time.
What about off-brick API's like:
www.mindsqualls.net
nxtsharp.fokke.net
Both C# and .Net.
Niels
I'm not able to view the www.mindsqualls.net web site.
I was just updating it. Perhaps that is the reason...
Edited comment from Charles Manning:
Correction: leJos NXJ does support OSX.
BTW: I'm not throwing rocks. It is hard to build up an accurate table like this.
Steve, yes. LEGO::NXT and ruby-nxt are remote control options. Both are windows, linux, and osx. ruby-nxt is bluetooth only at the moment. (will add usb eventually) Also not sure what you mean by "view sensors" on the table, but yeah it can read all sensor data.
This is great! :-)
I do not know much about the language.
Should they be in list?
Python and MSDN?
http://home.comcast.net/~dplau/nxt_python/index.html
Thanks for your list!
Excellent table! However, couldn't Robolab go under the 'Off-NXT Comtrollers?' It has the Interrogate RCX / NXT feature, and it only supports USB.
Robolab 2.9
I don't see Microsoft's Robotics Studio on the list.
Doesn't it «http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/» support NXT?
Andrew,
as it allows for remote control only, it's listed in the "NXT Off-Brick controllers (Remote Controls)" table (just scroll down on Steve's page).
Lejos NXJ can also be used without the Java VM as just a bunch of C code. In that mode, you can write C programs, compile and link them with the NXJ source (using free ARM gcc tools) and make C applications that you can download and run.
That will give you the fastest available open source code.
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