 
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming Guide (Technology in Action)
Rating:  -
I have a lot of respect for the author of this book and his work for the NXT community.
I have been a programmer before, from assembler coding to high-level pseudo-code like languages. So, when I first saw the NXT-G environment, I thought "gee this is sooo simple, I can do this very easily". However much to my chagrin, my NGT-G programs are terrible. They do not work, I cannot tell why (that is: I cannot diagnose and debug the programs I write). I can follow someone else's programs and understand the flow, but the quality of my own programs is pretty awful. My son (9), who is the "mechanical" builder of our designs is very disappointed about his Dad's programming capabilities... (well, that's a lesson in itself for him, Dads are not perfect and by an wide margin! And not only in programmming...).
So when I read at the product page, that "This book is for people new to programming (10 years old and up) or for experienced programmers new to the NXT-G programming language" that statement prompted me to immediately purchase the book with the hope to learn from scratch the technics of NXT-G programming.
Well, much to my surprise, this book is *NOT* suitable for anybody with experience in computer programming. It may be very suitable for kids learning their first programming steps (but perhaps not for teens with some experience). Even the language is clearly directed to the very young readership.
It is because of this misleading description that I am very unhappy to rate it with just one star. For another audience it could be a great book, so I feel that this is somewhat unfair to the printed work itself. However, the expectations I had due to that particular statement in the product page, made me a very disappointed customer.
Rating: -
I was hoping to learn more about NXT-G. I didn't. There is nothing in this book that is not in the online help files that come with the software. There are a number of errors. The X/Y coordinate system on page 188 in wrong, half of the time in the discussion of the logic block he calls it the compare block. It expected much more from this book. In the discussion of the logic block he shows how to evaluate 2 things. That is very simple and covered in the on-line notes. He doesn't explain how to compare 3 things or 4 things. This is actually tricky to figure out. I did but an example in the book would have saved me a lot of time. As you know my now, telling the bot to turn 90 degrees will not turn the bot 90 degrees. He notes that--in the appendix--but doesn't tell you how to get accurate results. That would have been useful. It would have been useful if the author had shown how add to the number in a variable block. This is useful if you want your bot to keep a running tally of something, like keeping score. There are many more examples I could site but this will do. I did, however, discover some very useful tips in The Lego Mindsotrms NXT Idea Book. That book too has its flaws but is worth the money unlike this book.
Rating:  -
This book covers a lot of ground on NXT-G programming and is a must have resource for anyone serious about programming in NXT-G as the on line help included with the NXT set is not adequate.
As a professional programmer and a robotics hobbyist, I would recommend that anyone wanting to bring out the full potential of their NXT creations move to a text based language like Robot-C instead. While NXT-G is good for simple programs, it is just to difficult to create anything of any complexity as the graphical elements and all those connecting lines distract you from what you are trying to accomplish.
I am giving this book 5 stars because it does well at what it is, a reference / guide to the NXT-G programming language. It is NXT-G itself that I would only give 2 stars.
Rating: -
We bought this book for our nine year old son who had recently received the Mindstorms NXT for Christmas. He could not put the book down - read it from cover to cover and thinks it is a great book. Highly recommend.
Rating: -
When it comes to wanting to do Lego Mindstorm NXT-G, this is the first book you should get. The book shows the reader what different blocks are and how they work. The book also reads in terms that middle school students can understand and follow. Programming is the most difficult item that you have to do with a roboit. This book shows is a great resource for people that are in to lego roboits.
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