Pause Counter

Neoneuron

Greetings!

I have a theory that the FOR counter = (first number) not only starts counting at that number, but is also the amount of delay. Is this correct? Because when I started counting using a WORD for room, and starting the counter = 800 to 900 the light flashed slower to begin with. Is this correct?
Also it seemed that the Bs2 stamp always adds 1ms to the delay for each time the program is run though FOR..NEXT is this correct?

Here is a copy of the program I ran with notes. Please correct me!

Thanks for any Help,

Neo

---

' ($Stamp BS2)
' {$PBASIC 2.5}

counter VAR Nib ' Equals number of counts Nib=15 Byte=255

' DEBUG "Program Running!"

'DO
FOR counter = 13 TO 50 ' Example: 13 is where you start
'counting. Also represents 13ms delay with 1 ms added
' In this case it will stop at nibble 15 (and reset itself
' to zero when it reaches its goal and goes to next?
DEBUG ? counter ' This was added to be able to
'watch the counts on the screen.

HIGH 15 ' red
LOW 14
PAUSE counter

LOW 15 ' Green
HIGH 14
PAUSE counter

LOW 15
LOW 14
PAUSE counter

NEXT
'LOOP

Franklin

If your counter is a nib it can hold a number from 0 to 15. For counter = 13 to 50 is invalid code. it may run but not as you expect.

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- Stephen

Neoneuron

True! It only went to 15 and then reset to zero. It answered one of my questions of not going beyond 15, (no matter how high the number). I wish I had answers to the other questions I had asked [noparse]:([/noparse]

Tracy Allen

Many factors have a small influence on execution times. For example, a word variable as a loop counter may be marginally faster than a nib, because the interpreter has to use fewer bits to store the address of a nib. But I don't understand your theory (ies). Could you elaborate what you mean by, "when I started counting using a WORD for room, and starting the counter = 800 to 900 the light flashed slower to begin with. Is this correct?"

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

Neoneuron

Thank you for helping! I needed the Word size to be able to count higher. (You can't count past 255 with a Byte) In this case I tried starting the count from 800. The 900 number was just used to keep the count short so I could test it quickly. The thing is, I notice the bulb flashed slower from the start when I did this. So, is it true that not only am I'm (in this case) starting the count from 800. And 800 seems to flash the bulb slower from the start? Or am I wrong?

Again Thanks!

Neoneuron

Or is there something else going on in processing that I am not aware of?? But it seems that the higher the number, the slower the bulb flashes from the very start.

Tracy Allen

>I have a theory that the FOR counter = (first number) not only starts counting at that number, but is also the amount of delay. Is this correct?
That is correct, because that is the way you programmed it. Your program code would sure enough flash slower starting with counter=800 than with counter=80, because of the "PAUSE counter" command.

In the snppet like this, the led flash will slow down:
counter VAR Word
FOR counter=100 to 1000
TOGGLE led
PAUSE counter ' <--- the pause and the rate of flashing depend on the current value of counter
NEXT

There are much much smaller effects having to do with the size of the variables. I should have said "the interpreter has to use fewer bits to store the address of a word than a nib, because it only takes 4 bits to address one out of 16 word locations in ram, versus 1 out of 64 nib locations. But the difference there is only a few microseconds.

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

Neoneuron

Thank you so much Tracy! So is it correct to say that entering a larger number after the "For counter = " takes more time to process and hence the slower flashing to begin with?

Mike Green

The FOR statement takes roughly the same time to execute regardless of the size of the number. You're using the value of the FOR variable as the delay for the PAUSE statement and that is what is taking the extra time. For example,

counter VAR nib
FOR counter = 1 to 10
TOGGLE led
PAUSE counter * 100
NEXT

This behaves the same as the program that Tracy wrote, but it only uses a nibble for the counter.

Neoneuron

Thanks Mike! So when I type something like, FOR counter = 800 to 1000 The 800 is 800 milliseconds? Or For Counter = 10 to 50 The 10 is 10 milliseconds?

vaclav_sal

How about this approach:··

Room VAR Word

For room = 800 to 900

··· .....

··· pause 100

next

Now you have· FOR loop with "fixed" delay of 100 ms.

When you use variable room as value to your pause it will naturally vary with the actual loop index.

Or better yet - do not use variable name·"counter"· if you really doing "delay".

Cheers

Vaclav