Skip to main content

Document First - then Code

 Davy Dick's talk to the JAL Special Interest Group last night was a not to be missed event for anyone wishing to program in any language.

The critical analysis process was succinctly expressed as

" If you can't describe it - you can't code it"

Comments in a program are essential for the understanding of others and for yourself if looking at it after a prolonged delay. Davy suggests that we shouldn't write code and then comment on it, but the opposite.

Write comments describing your requirements and then write the code for each part.

Davy used a few examples to outline his method of designing using Psuedo Code.

A road roller, a canal boat with intermediate animations, a traffic light simulator, a lighthouse and Ezypoints were demonstrated and discussed showing different programming methods.

I would recommend that you watch this presentation which is now available on the JALSIG area of the MERG website.

You might have to Join the JAL Special Interest Group to gain access.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Train sequence / timetable using Arduino

                              Following discussions in a MERG Zoom meeting about potential projects for the Cumbria virtual area group I have started this blog to share my ideas for building a train sequence / timetable system based on an Arduino UNO. The trigger for this project was Andy Robb's article in the MERG journal (June 2020 edition). In it Andy describes using an UNO with a OLED display to produce an electronic station display board.  Having tried out Andy's version I started thinking about expanding the idea and have come up the following list of possibilities: 1. Replace my card index train sequence with an electronic version. 2. Have the train sequence synchronised with the on platform displays. 3. Display an analogue clock on the station display and have it display the train times. 4. Store the position reached in the sequence so that it starts where it left off on power up.  To mak...
8 comments
Read more

Sunday's West of Scotland Area Group Zoom meeting

 Another very well attended Zoom meeting with 34 participants. Davy showed us the commercially available automatic train stopping unit available at £12.53 from Brimar and compared it with the almost identical PMP 15 kit from the MERG Kitlocker at  only £2.65.  With these kind of savings, MERG membership is worth every penny. Chic Thomson treated us to a very entertaining presentation on simulation software for Electronics. INKSCAPE  is a free open  source drawing package. There are many Arduino Simulators available but Arduino Simulator 1.5.1 is an excellent open source offering.  For those interested in PICs simulators are available within the JAL compiler (Just Another Language) and MPLAB Sim is available within MPLAB but seldom advertised. Electronics Workshop 5.1 is a program no longer being developed but a useful tool for investigating any electrical or electronic circuit. Apparently you can Google it but there are a few insecure sites so be careful. F...
Post a Comment
Read more

Push button Ezypoints

 A few months ago I produced a batch of Ezypoint kits for our local members to overcome a shortage in the Kitlocker.  At that time the kit was produced on stripboard which some members find problematic. An additional PCB board normally available from MERG was not available either.  Alan Turner ( the PCB designer) had only a few boards available but graciously provided me with the gerber files to allow me to order PCBs directly from China . Having sourced all necessary components, the kits were duly made up. I find this simple kit is really useful for automation projects. A toggle switch provides either a HIGH or LOW on the PIC input pin to determine which of the two servo positions is selected. For a particular application, I wanted to use a push button to toggle the position on alternate presses of the button. This involved a rewrite of some of the code in the PIC. I initially developed the program using an Arduino as a means of testing the logic. When this was successfu...
Post a Comment
Read more