Crazy program

Brian, Matthias, and crew...

I was building a program last night that got a little too "spaghetti" -ish - wires and loops and switches and, in the end, I ended up scrapping it.

This morning, I wish I hadn't done that... because I think it would have been cool to post, without comments, and see if readers could guess what it does.

Inviting you guys to post up your idea of a complicated program - I'll try and rebuild mine tonight.

Jim

Comments

Brian Davis said…
So we're starting an "obfuscated NXT-G" event? Seeing as how there's a lot of stuff hidden in the configuration panel, it should be interesting seeing how complex a program you can make that *is* still understandable from a screenshot or two.

--
Brian Davis
Unknown said…
I wonder what could be the benefit of such an enterprise?
Just pure fun, Matthias...

... and maybe to see how warped a mind you have when it comes to programming.

Jim
Anonymous said…
It is obvious that Matthais is an artist, always seeking a functional form which is asthetically pleasing.
Unknown said…
Byron,

sometimes not even functional ;-) ;-)

But seriously: my (few) NXT-G programs tend to split into a lot of blocks that split into blocks again (and so on) - so I usually end up with a bunch of simple blocks connected by comparatively unsophisticated control flow.
This strategy has two reasons: first of all, modularization is commonly considered a good design (admittedly NXT-G does not allow yet for a satisfying level of componentization in the IT sense of the term), and secondly, it's just a pragmatic approach to overcome the still apparent shortcomings of the NXT-G IDE when it comes to nested control structures.

It's easy to see that such a kind of NXT-G programs are not very well suited neither for meaningful screenshots nor for spagetthization.

Having some (professional) experience with model driven development and the design of languages with graphical syntax, I have my doubts about some parts of NXT-G's design anyway - but that's subject to another discussion.

/Matthias
Anonymous said…
I am not interested in a obfuscated programming competition. No, really.

However as I have not yet interacted with the NXT G environment I am interested in where you think the limits are. Particularly with regard to representing complex programs.

Thanks,
Tony
Unknown said…
> .. and maybe to see how warped a mind you have when it comes to programming.

Jim,

pretty warped, pretty warped, I'm afraid - at least my colleagues who (have to) work on the same code base as me think so...;-)

Matthias Paul

Popular Posts