Build and Program Your Own Lego Mindstorms EV3 Robots

God book.

gift

I checked this book out from the library to see if it would be a good reference book for kids that are interested in learning how to use/program EV3 Robots. The first 100 pages (of ~350 pages) are dedicated to talking about what's in the box, comparing EV3 and NXT, and building your first bots. However, there isn't one single instruction on how to program or build an actual bot (even though there are 20 pages dedicated to building your first bots!)! It isn't until about page 150 (almost halfway through the book!) that you start learning how to program something. 150 pages to slog through before you start learning how to program something. The book directs you to a website for instructions on how to build your first bot (why do I need this book...???). There is some decent info and some decent examples about how to program, but then I got to the part about how to control the bot with the infrared remote. The example uses nested IF switch blocks to program the buttons to control the robot. What...??? Oh wait, the book says, "it seems like there should be a better way to get this program to work. Don't worry, there is...". "Whew", I think to myself, they are going to show you how to easily use a switch block in measure mode (infrared > measure > remote) to program actions for each of the remote buttons when you press them (super easy way to do it, by the way). But NO, it continues, "...Use a multi-threaded remote program." "Oh, no!", I think to myself, "Are they going to ...???" Yes they do. They show you how to use multiple start blocks, each with a wait block (waiting for a button on the remote to be pressed), to program the robot's motors for movement. NOOOOO!!!! OK, some might be thinking, "What's wrong with that?" Yes, the program probably works just fine and demonstrates that you can use multiple start blocks to multithread. However, this is a very bad practice. Trying to control and/or access any sensor and/or motor from more than one thread can cause issues and produce undesired results. I know, I tried it a lot when I was first learning and stuff didn't always work as desired. I then did some research and found out that yes, you could do it, but no, it's not a good idea and could cause undesirable results. So, I've found other ways to multithread my programs. I kind of gave up hope for this book after these examples.I was hoping that this might be another good resource for kids to use, however, I cannot recommend it. There's too much fluff, too much talking about the different models you can build and just showing you pictures of them. You don't need a book for that, you can find all of that online for free. All you need is a little section to point this out and then move on to good stuff, but the book is lacking in "good stuff" as well. There are some OK examples, but some of the examples are just not good (see above). There are't really many building instructions in it either (like most of the other books I've looked at have), I think there are two and they are pretty basic. Rather than get this book, you're better off using Google to find sites to learn stuff from. Or, if you want a book, my favorite is  The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book (Full Color): A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots .Sorry, too much fluff and not enough meat (and some not so good meat too). Two stars for the effort.

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