The Art of Lego Mindstorms NXT-G Programming

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® software and its NXT-G programming language are powerful tools that make it easy to write custom programs for your robots. NXT-G is a great first programming language, but that doesn't mean it's easy to understand—at least not right away.

In The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming, author and experienced software engineer Terry Griffin explains how to program MINDSTORMS robots with NXT-G. You'll learn how to work with the core parts of the NXT-G language, such as blocks, data wires, files, and variables, and see how these pieces can work together. You'll also learn good programming practices, bad habits to avoid, and useful debugging strategies.

As you follow along with the book's extensive instructions and explanations, you'll learn exactly how NXT-G works and how to:

• Write custom programs that make your robots appear to think and respond to your commands
• Design, create, and debug large programs
• Write programs that use data wires and the NXT buttons to turn a robot into a contraption, like a sound generator or a sketch pad
• Use My Blocks in your programs, and share them with others
• Store data on the NXT, manage its memory, and transfer files between the NXT and your computer

The book's programs work with one general-purpose test robot that you'll build in Chapter 3.

Whether you're a young robotics enthusiast, an adult working with children to learn robotics, a parent, a FIRST LEGO League coach, or a teacher using NXT in the classroom, this is the complete guide to NXT-G that you've been looking for.

Requirements: One LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or NXT 2.0 set

Terry Griffin has been a software engineer for over 20 years and has spent most of that time creating software for controlling various types of machines. He works for Carl Zeiss SMT on the Orion Helium Ion Microscope, programming the user interface and high-level control software. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Liz, a middle school math and science teacher, and their three daughters, Cheyenne, Sarah, and Samantha.