Syngress programming LEGO mindstorms with java may 2002 ISBN 1928994555 pdf

177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page i solutions@syngress.com With more than 1,500,000 copies of our MCSE, MCSD, CompTIA, and Cisco study guides in print, we continue to look for ways we can better serve the information needs of our readers One way we that is by listening Readers like yourself have been telling us they want an Internet-based service that would extend and enhance the value of our books Based on reader feedback and our own strategic plan, we have created a Web site that we hope will exceed your expectations Solutions@syngress.com is an interactive treasure trove of useful information focusing on our book topics and related technologies The site offers the following features: ■ One-year warranty against content obsolescence due to vendor product upgrades You can access online updates for any affected chapters ■ “Ask the Author” customer query forms that enable you to post questions to our authors and editors ■ Exclusive monthly mailings in which our experts provide 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registered trademarks of Syngress Publishing, Inc “Mission Critical™,”“Hack Proofing™,” and “The Only Way to Stop a Hacker is to Think Like One™” are trademarks of Syngress Publishing, Inc Brands and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies KEY 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 SERIAL NUMBER 99K6GTTBE8 2WYH4RUJAZ 2QMJF6TVXD 3JHGF56YZP S45TG2SP9U 5VGBBHWE44 6Y6Q4V9NFR 7MFGM99EFV W3YHVDKPZ4 8GFHR5TNU8 PUBLISHED BY Syngress Publishing, Inc 800 Hingham Street Rockland, MA 02370 Programming LEGOđ MINDSTORMS with Java Copyright â 2002 by Syngress Publishing, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-928994-55-5 Technical Editor: Dario Laverde Cover Designer: Michael Kavish Technical Reviewer: Simon Ritter Page Layout and Art by: Shannon Tozier Acquisitions Editor: Catherine B Nolan Copy Editor: Jesse Corbeil, Michael McGee Developmental Editor: Kate Glennon Indexer: J Edmund Rush CD Production: Michael Donovan Distributed by Publishers Group West in the United States and Jaguar Book Group in Canada 177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page v Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the following people for their kindness and support in making this book possible Karen Cross, Lance Tilford, Meaghan Cunningham, Kim Wylie, Harry Kirchner, Kevin Votel, Kent Anderson, Frida Yara, Bill Getz, Jon Mayes, John Mesjak, Peg O’Donnell, Sandra Patterson, Betty Redmond, Roy Remer, Ron Shapiro, Patricia Kelly, Andrea Tetrick, Jennifer Pascal, Doug Reil, and David Dahl of Publishers Group West for sharing their incredible marketing experience and expertise Jacquie Shanahan, AnnHelen Lindeholm, David Burton, Febea Marinetti, and Rosie Moss of Elsevier Science for making certain that our vision remains worldwide in scope Annabel Dent and Paul Barry of Elsevier Science/Harcourt Australia for all their help David Buckland,Wendi Wong, Marie Chieng, Lucy Chong, Leslie Lim, Audrey Gan, and Joseph Chan of Transquest Publishers for the enthusiasm with which they receive our books Kwon Sung June at Acorn Publishing for his support Ethan Atkin at Cranbury International for his help in expanding the Syngress program Jackie Gross, Gayle Voycey, Alexia Penny, Anik Robitaille, Craig Siddall, Darlene Morrow, Iolanda Miller, Jane Mackay, and Marie Skelly at Jackie Gross & Associates for all their help and enthusiasm representing our product in Canada Lois Fraser, Connie McMenemy, Shannon Russell and the rest of the great folks at Jaguar Book Group for their help with distribution of Syngress books in Canada Thank you to our hard-working colleagues at New England Fulfilmment & Distribution who manage to get all our books sent pretty much everywhere in the world.Thank you to Debbie “DJ” Ricardo, Sally Greene, Janet Honaker, and Peter Finch A special thanks to Matt Gerber at Brickswest for his help and support for our books v 177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page vi 177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page vii Contributors Søren Hilmer (SCJP, SCJD, SCWCD) is Research and Development Manager at IT+, a company in the TietoEnator group He currently works on security related projects involving Single Sign On Søren holds a master’s degree in computer science and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Århus Søren has been giving talks on programming the RCX with Java, most notably at the JAOO conference in 2000 (www.jaoo.org) He has been programming in Java since 1996, at that time using Java for coding industrial control systems Søren would like to dedicate his part of the book to his wonderful wife Joan and his children, Rebecca and Sebastian Giulio Ferrari works as a Software Developer at EDIS, a leader in publishing and finishing solution and promotional packaging He studied engineering and economics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and in the past has developed applications, entertainment software, and Web sites for several companies He is fond of physical and mathematical sciences, as well as of puzzles and games in general (he has a collection of 1500 dice of every kind and shape) Giulio co-authored the best-selling Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-928994-67-9) with his brother, Mario and Ralph Hempel (technical editor), a book that has quickly become a fundamental reference and source of ideas for many LEGO robotics fans He has been playing with LEGO bricks since he was very young, and his passion for robotics started in 1998, with the arrival of the MINDSTORMS series From that moment on, he held an important place in the creation of the Italian LEGO community, ItLUG, now one of the largest and most important LEGO users group worldwide He works in Modena, Italy, where he lives with his girlfriend, Marina vii 177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page viii Jamie Waldinger (SCJP) is a developer at Viant Corporation in Boston, where he develops Web-enabled systems for a global client base He has coded in Java for three years, and holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Massachusetts Jamie wishes to dedicate his portion of this book to his beautiful fiancée, Rory, and also both her and his loving parents for their endless support Jürgen Stuber is one of the administrators of the leJOS project and one of the few people who have worked on the internals of leJOS Jürgen has made important contributions to the leJOS virtual machine, in particular fixes that made rotation sensors usable and that improved the speed of the main instruction loop Jürgen holds a doctorate from the University of Saarbrücken, Germany He is currently working as an INRIA postdoctoral fellow at the LORIA Research Institute for Computer Science in Nancy, France His main research interests are theorem proving and term rewriting Mick Porter (SSJCP, MCP) is a Senior Technical Architect for Logica, a global systems integrator Mick specializes in the design and implementation of wireless and mobile commerce systems.With 15 years of experience in the IT industry, Mick has worked on an enormous variety of systems and projects, and over the last few years, he has delivered a number of major e-commerce systems Mick holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and became a Sun Certified Java Programmer five years ago, as well as having passed eight Microsoft Certified Professional exams Mick lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife, Andrea and children, Holly and Anthony Mick is glad that his children give him an excuse to play with LEGO again Andy Gombos is a sophomore at John Hardin High School He has been programming in Java for four years, and started programming the RCX with TinyVM almost two years ago He is the author of the leJOS Visual Interface and Simlink, two tools for leJOS Andy wishes to thank his parents for their support, and Kevin Sheppard for providing him with software used viii 177_LEGO_Java_FM.qxd 4/3/02 1:09 PM Page ix Technical Editor Dario Laverde is a freelance Java Software Architect As the Vice President of System Architecture at PlayLink, Inc., a Java online games development company, he created the initial framework of the client/ server architecture and graphical user interfaces Prior to that he was a Senior Applications Developer at UGO, an online entertainment portal and InterWorld, an e-commerce software company where he developed online community software He has programmed with Java for six years, and C++ for 10 years Dario holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College He is the current Chair of C++ and Java SIG (Special Interest Group) of the NYPC Users Group ix ... RCX Java API in order to program my MINDSTORMS robots with Java xix 177 _LEGO_ Java_ fore.qxd xx 4/2/02 5:01 PM Page xx Foreword Programming LEGO MINDSTORMS with Java is as much about robotics programming. .. great fun www .syngress. com 177 _LEGO_ Java_ 01.qxd 4/2/02 11:58 AM Page Introducing LEGO MINDSTORMS • Chapter A Brief History of the LEGO MINDSTORMS RIS The commercial version of the LEGO MINDSTORMS. .. together with the purpose of sharing it with the LEGO MINDSTORMS community I feel confident that the material presented here, in conjunction with the companion volume, Building Robots with LEGO MINDSTORMS