Hello all,

Would anyone be interested in forming a group to co-operate with
Ada development of the Mindstoms NXT Robot kit ?

If so, perhaps we might meet in #ada on irc.freenode.net to
discuss a suitable forum ?


regards,

Rod.

jacob sparre andersen

How can a fan of LEGO, Ada and robotics say no to that question? ;-)

Yes.

Play well,

Jacob
--
A scene from Copenhagen reconstructed in LEGO:
http://lego.jacob-sparre.dk/Milj%F8er/Stengade/

matteo bordin

Why don't you create a subgroup of LEGO Fan on Linkedin?
This would give you a virtual place to discuss and would give more
visibility to our beloved language ;-)

martyn pike

I run the Ada Programming Language group on Linkedin.com

Would you like me to create a "Ada for Mindstorms" subgroup ?

Martyn

That's wonderful, thank you all for replying.

Linkedin seems a fine idea, thank you, Martyn.

I've also set up #adalego on irc.freenode.net for informal
discussion, if anyone is interested.


regards.

adamagica

Why not create a Google group? What's the advantage of having two new
forums (LinkedIn, #adalego)?

ludovic brenta

Why not use comp.lang.ada and meaningful subject lines like the one
for this thread? Is the traffic already too high here?

--
Ludovic Brenta.

I guess each kind of forum has slightly different 'dynamics'. An
irc channel can provide a tutorial like forum (for quick/minor/
informal questions). A Linkedin (or other email like) forum can give
more lecture-like style of question/answer (ie to discuss new ideas or
aspects).

So i suppose my vote would be for one of each.


Regards.

Hello Ludovic,

Heh, the traffic on cla is *never* too high .

The worry is that the traffic on the formal lego forum may become
too high, and so obscure the purer Ada language questions on cla.

At least, I can live in hope that it will be so ...


cheers.

ludovic brenta

I don't like IRC; there are too many problems with it.

Since there are no archives and no subject lines, one cannot later
search for an answer. So I am not inclined to give advice there,
knowing whatever I say will be lost. Also, newbies are bound to ask
the same question over and over. The correct answer, of course, is
"search comp.lang.ada"

The second problem is that, because it is so informal, people tend not
to think their questions through; it takes several iterations before
we can even understand the question. The great quality of Ada is that
it forces the programmer to say what they mean, i.e. think twice.
This benefit disappears on IRC. In contrast, as you can see, people
post meaningful, well-constructed questions here daily.

My conclusion: informal questions belong in a searchable newsgroup and
tutorials should go on a Wiki (perhaps a new chapter about Lego
Mindstorms in the Ada Programming wikibook?)

--
Ludovic Brenta.