Is there going to be a emulator or something similar to that so we FIRST programmers can test and play with our stuff?? If there is, I would like to help some. If not, i will be bummed. I would start it, but i donât know C, C++, Perl, etc⌠so i canât start it. If there is an emulator, even a home-made one that would help so much if we can put some âfakeâ switches and see if our code works correctlyâŚ
Thx,
Matt
Instead of going to the trouble / fun of writing / buying an emulator program for PBASIC (at a cost of ???), buy a real Basic Stamp II (you decide the version), and write programs for that. Perhaps you could obtain one of the chip-on-a-bosrd sets that Parallax sells.
I have an old BS2 mounted on a circuit board next to an inline header into which I have plugged an LCD 16x2 screen. I write a snippet to test, and have the results displayed on screen. The PBASIC isnât likely to change much soon, so this catches logic errors for me.
An emulator that would evaluate a complete robot control program in real time could easily overlook some little filigree that becomes glaringly important - debug on the robot.
Did you buy the BS2 chip or where you able to find it in some circut board? I really, really like the programming, but it isnât too cool when you write a code and canât try it out some where in your own house. (Rember, I am a student at Melvindale and I donât have constant access to the robot and i want to be one of the main programmers next year.) I know i can use sintax check, but that isnât too fun. It is better in the âTrial-And-Errorâ way for meâŚ
<a href=âhttp://www.robocards.orgâ>Robocards Web site, check it out!!</a>
Go to RobotStore.com or ParallaxInc.com in order to buy the stamp2 chips and a carrier board.
ParallaxInc Stamp2 Carrier Boards
The carrier board is great because it can use a 9V battery to power the Stamp2. All you need is a 9 pin cable and PC & youâre coding to your heartâs delight.
http://parallaxinc.com/image_files/product_med_pics/carrier_bs2_m.gif
Hope this helps.
Joe J.
What kind of debugging facilities are available for use with the code on the robot controller? I saw some kind of âdebuggerâ integrated with the Stamp Editor software we are supplied with, but its use was not inuitive to say the least. Any pointers to documentation or software Iâm missing?
*Originally posted by Jon Lawton *
**What kind of debugging facilities are available for use with the code on the robot controller? I saw some kind of âdebuggerâ integrated with the Stamp Editor software we are supplied with, but its use was not inuitive to say the least. Any pointers to documentation or software Iâm missing? **
I think youâre refering to the debug terminal of the StampW editor. A debug terminal window opens whenever you download a program (or at least whenever that program contains DEBUG commands.) You can use the DEBUG command in your program to display data as your program runs â just like using printf to debug a C program.
The new StampW editor version 1.2 (available at Parallax Inc.) has built in context sensitive help which describes the DEBUG command fairly well. It looks like this online help is pretty much the same as is in the BASIC Stamp Manual v2.0 (also available for download from the Parallax site.) Note: the online help only covers Chapter 5: BASIC STAMP COMMAND REFERENCE of the manual. It doesnât include Chapter 4: BASIC STAMP ARCHITECTURE which includes the following topics:
which are AT LEAST as important as the commands (especially since many of the commands are not applicable to our little âCPU in a bubbleâ [see Joe Johnsonâs white paper Practical PBASIC Programming])
There is a Basic Stamp I emulator. But no Basic Stamp 2(SX) emulator, to my knowledge⌠However, AWC Electronics seems to have a lot of prototyping materials available.
Adam Krajewski
*Originally posted by gwross *
**The new StampW editor version 1.2 (available at Parallax Inc.) has built in context sensitive helpâŚ) **
FYI, version 1.3 is now available which fixes a couple of old bugs which had bitten me a number of times.