12 blocks

hoff70 · 2012-05-16 20:54

Is anyone here using it? I have the free version and it's GREAT for the simple stuff but I can't find much documentation on more advanced programming. If I can figure out the advanced functions I'll buy the full version for sure! I'm a hyper-noob at programming so that doesn't help much...

Thanks.

Mike Green · 2012-05-16 21:16

You can send an e-mail to Hanno and he'll point you to the documentation. It's on his website.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2012-05-16 22:15

Have you found this document yet? It starts simple but digs fairly deep in the second half..

http://12blocks.com/tutorial.pdf

OBC

fixmax · 2012-05-17 06:19

I'm using it for a sensor module on my Rover project. Right now, it's set up to provide simple polling of 3 or 4 motion sensors back to a PC over serial. Later I'll probably do more with it. Its very simple to use, with a few quirks you got to watch out for.

Brian Riley · 2012-05-17 09:09

fixmax wrote: »

I'm using it for a sensor module on my Rover project. Right now, it's set up to provide simple polling of 3 or 4 motion sensors back to a PC over serial. Later I'll probably do more with it. Its very simple to use, with a few quirks you got to watch out for.

.... aaaannnndddd, those quirks are ???????????

Publison · 2012-05-17 11:41

I echo Brian's query. I have been using 12Blocks for two years, and it is a pretty mature, but evolving, product.

Any specifics?

Also, Hanno is more apt to follow his forums more closely:

http://forums.hannoware.com/

His complete resource page:

http://12blocks.com/resources.php

Jim

Hanno · 2012-05-17 12:48

Hi!
I'm heading to the airport in a couple hours to launch the latest TBot and 12Blocks at our booth at Maker's Faire- an audience of 100,000 diy enthusiasts. We'll have a very cool demo involving multiple cooperating robots, computer vision, and wireless- programmed completely in 12Blocks. I'll post video and the 12B code after the show.

It's taken much longer than I first expected but the features are now all there. The very latest is here:
http://forums.hannoware.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=179&sid=a3c982ac9ae7b43a14b413102cbd1fa8. Hopefully all the quirks are taken care of too- if not please let me know. There are some tutorials, references and guides out there already, soon to be followed by not 1, or 2, but 3 books: my own "Advanced Control Robotics" to be published by Elektor, and two from Andrew Veronis for use with the Propeller and PICAXE.

There's a great bunch of people using 12Blocks and it's the programming language of choice for both myself and my kids (aged 6 and 7).
Hanno

Publison · 2012-05-17 15:06

hoff70 wrote: »

Is anyone here using it? I have the free version and it's GREAT for the simple stuff but I can't find much documentation on more advanced programming. If I can figure out the advanced functions I'll buy the full version for sure! I'm a hyper-noob at programming so that doesn't help much...

Thanks.

There you go

Per Hanno: His latest with bug fixes:

http://12blocks.com/12blocks214.exe

May 17,2012 Version 2.14

Let use know how that goes for you.

Jim

hoff70 · 2012-05-17 21:24

Thanks for the input and encouragement! I've only used it for simple on/off switching but it is sooo much simpler than typing in little squiggles and dashes...

I'm at a point where I need to back up and start learning some stuff before I can really take advantage of this technology. I'm currently catching up with Firstspin : http://www.firstspin.tv/about-the-show/ which is AMAZING so far. I'm hoping that it will help me develop some coding skills that will hopefully translate into using 12 blocks better. I have no intentions of going down a PASM rabbithole or anything like that but it is interesting to know these things.

The learning curve is pretty steep for me but it is rewarding.!

I'm looking forward to the video and books. I'm really looking forward to the computer vision stuff. That's what drew me to the Prop in the first place but it seems really hard to harness the video capabilities of the chip..

fixmax · 2012-05-18 06:07

Brian Riley wrote: »

.... aaaannnndddd, those quirks are ???????????

The quirks for me have been flaky cut and paste operations and a few other things. Version 2.12 fixed some of that, but I still see it occasionally. The undo function also doesn't always work. Occasionally, when a section of code is put back from an undo operation, the contents of the block, say for assigning a variable, will be blank. Another "quirk" I have is with the generated .exe file. I haven't yet been able to make that work. I have tested 2.14, and it still has undo issues, so just be careful with that. Save frequently.

Other than those things, which btw I can live with, I've been a huge fan of 12 blocks from day one, or I wouldn't be using it in my project. I don't have any problems working with something that has a few bugs in it, because Hanno has always been great about fixing them and adding new features.

tonocastillo · 2012-05-18 14:56

Publison wrote: »

There you go

Per Hanno: His latest with bug fixes:

http://12blocks.com/12blocks214.exe

May 17,2012 Version 2.14

Let use know how that goes for you.

Jim

I just installed this version and noticed that I can't see the pins thing to the right.
The old version worked fine in that aspect.

The "Values", "Pins" and "Terminal" buttons are missing on 2.1.4 version

-Tono

Sapieha · 2012-05-18 15:22

Hi tonocastillo.

This function is now as drag and drop in --- interface menu

tonocastillo wrote: »

I just installed this version and noticed that I can't see the pins thing to the right.
The old version worked fine in that aspect.

The "Values", "Pins" and "Terminal" buttons are missing on 2.1.4 version

-Tono

12 blocks

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