Comments on RepRap: Blog: Interrupt-driven serial comms no real challenge

I can see Jonored's point but for me, since I lear...

2006-07-15T23:48:39.220+01:00

I can see Jonored's point but for me, since I learned BASIC and machine code first and C much later I definitely fall into plaasjaapie's catagory of happy tinkerer. As soon as winter rolls around and I have the time to tinker, that is.

Super awesome progress you folks are making, by-the-way. I am totally impressed.

***It ended up looking like assembler with a thin ...

2006-07-10T18:16:44.326+01:00

***It ended up looking like assembler with a thin veneer of basic on top; mostly because that's what it was.***

I looked at a LOT of compilers before I decided to try the Oshonsoft BASIC. I've seen a lot of the veneer phenomena that you refer to and I hate it, too.

So far I haven't had to do any assembler code inserts. Mind, the compiler allows for them but I haven't needed them yet.

** As I said some time ago I expect that for every...

2006-07-10T18:00:16.470+01:00

** As I said some time ago I expect that for every potential developer out there who is useful in the C language there are probably several hundred who can tinker in BASIC who might find firmware development for as focussed a piece of technology as RepRap a lot of fun. :-) **

On the other hand, I've encountered several people who had to use a microcontroller BASIC to run a competition robot (because the use of the provided controller was required for participation in the competition); I've even looked at the associated code. It ended up looking like assembler with a thin veneer of basic on top; mostly because that's what it was. There were two people on our team who had a hope of comprehending it and even they had issues with glitchy behavior. For the 2004 competition, they finally swapped over to C; suddenly, things like people being able to exchange code and have it work happened. I remember one call for, I think it was a "sqrt" function implementation that a team needed, at the competition; they got it, too.

Essentially, what I'm saying is, I've seen the BASIC route go unpleasantly, and lock people out of tinkering a lot more than it brought people in, especially if it got the least bit sophistocated. C started out with the goal of being easier to deal with than assembler, without losing the low-level access and also making it easier to move code across platforms; it's pretty good at it.

Just my opinion on the subject, -JonoRED.

(now, if maybe on the third try the system will accept my interpretation of it's silly mangled-words-in-image bit...)