Interactive C (IC for short) is a C language consisting of
a compiler (with interactive command-line compilation and debugging)
and a run-time machine language module. IC implements a subset
of C including control structures (for, while,
if, else), local and global variables,
arrays, pointers, structures, 16-bit and 32-bit integers, and
32-bit floating point numbers.
IC works by compiling into pseudo-code for a custom stack machine, rather than compiling directly into native code for a particular processor. This pseudo-code (or p-code) is then interpreted by the run-time machine language program. This unusual approach to compiler design allows IC to offer the following design tradeoffs:
Since IC's ultimate performance is limited by the fact that its output p-code is interpreted, these advantages are taken at the expense of raw execution speed.
The current version of IC was designed and implemented by Randy Sargent, Anne Wright, and Carl Witty, with the assistance of Fred Martin. As of this writing, there are many related 6811 systems in use: the 6.270 LEGO Robot Controller Board (Rev 2.21: 1994, Rev 2.2: 1993, Rev 2.1: 1992, Rev 2.0: 1991), the Handy Board (1995), the Rug Warrior (1993), and the Sensor Robot (1991). This document currently specifically covers the Rev. 2.21 6.270 LEGO Robot Controller Board, but much of this manual is applicable to all platforms.
IC runs on several different platforms (currently UNIX, Mac, and Win32 (Windows 95 and Windows NT)). These versions of IC are compatible with each other, but have different user interfaces. Please see the "Getting Started" section for the version you are using.
You should have a file ic_machine_3.1.tar.Z, where
machine is your machine type (for example, ic_linux_3.1.tar.Z
or ic_sparc_sunos_3.1.tar.Z). (The version number
may be different.) For clarity, I will continue this example with
ic_linux_3.1.tar.Z; replace filenames as appropriate.
Type the following commands:
uncompress ic_linux_3.1.tar.Z
At this point, you should have a directory ic_linux_3.1
with subdirectories bin and libs. The
next step is to put these directories in their final resting place.
If you have privileges on your machine, the best thing is probably
to put the binaries in /usr/local/bin and the libraries
in /usr/local/lib/ic. (The binaries come configured
to expect libraries in this location). Otherwise, if you want
to put the binaries and libraries somewhere else (such as in your
home directory), you'll need to re-configure the ic
and dl executables (see section Configuring
IC under UNIX). Warning: if you're installing a new version
of IC over a previous version of IC 3.1 or later, be sure to run
the old version and write down the license key and name so that
you can enter the information into your new copy.
Before starting IC, you will need to know the name of the serial port you intend to use. The device names vary from system to system. Often, a serial port is set up to not give read and write permissions to standard users. Occasionally, a serial port is set up to run "getty", which means the system thinks a serial terminal (such as a VT100) is connected, and that users will wish to log in. If in doubt, you should talk to your local system administrator to help you get started using the serial port.
Here are some typical serial port names, but realize that names sometimes vary even between different machines of the same architecture, so the following are suggestions for names to try, rather than the final answers:
You may want to confirm that the serial port works before you
try to use IC to talk to a board, as it is good to keep the number
of unknowns to one at a time. One way to do this is to hook the
serial port on your host machine to a serial source that is known
to work (for instance, a modem or another serial port) and run
kermit.
It is critical to get this step right before you continue. If you have not used serial ports on a UNIX machine before, I highly recommend you find someone more experienced to help you.
Now you should be ready to plug in your board. Refer to the owner's manual of your board for instructions.
If your board does not have "p-code" loaded, you
will have to download the p-code before you can run IC. (Try turning
your board on; if a message appears that starts "IC v3.1",
your board already has p-code loaded, and you can skip this step.)
To download p-code, find the appropriate .s19 file
for your board in /usr/local/lib/ic (or wherever
you placed the library files); this should be pcode_hb.s19
for the Handy Board, pcode_rw.s19 for the Rug Warrior,
or pcoder22.s19 for the 6.270 board. Run the dl
program that you just installed with the .s19 file
you've found, like dl pcode_hb.s19 -port /dev/cua0
(replace /dev/cua0 with the serial port on your machine);
follow the instructions that dl prints.
At this point you should be ready to run ic. Before
you can run it, you'll have to enter a license key and name with
ic -config (see section Configuring
IC under UNIX); you should have received a license key when
you purchased IC.
Try running IC and typing "2+2"; you should get the response "Returned <int> 4".
You should have a file named ic_mac_3.1.sea.hqx
(the version number may be different). You can convert this to
ic_mac_3.1.sea with any of several popular format
conversion tools, such as Compact Pro. Once you have the file
ic_mac_3.1.sea, simply execute it; it will ask you
where you want to place the Interactive C folder, and then extract
the IC files in that location. Warning: if you're upgrading
from a previous version of IC 3.1 or later, don't delete the old
version until you've run it and written down the license key and
name so that you can enter the information into your new copy.
Plug the board into one of your computer's serial ports, and run IC. The first time you run IC, it will ask you for your license key and name; you should have received a license key when you purchased IC.
Try turning your board on. If your board has its "p-code" loaded, a message should come up that starts "IC v3.1"; if it does not, you will have to reload the p-code. You can do this with the "Reload pcode..." command (on the File menu); the program will guide you through the steps.
Now you should be ready to use IC. Try running IC and typing "2+2"; you should get the response "Returned <int> 4".
You should have a file named icw31.exe (the version
number may be different). CD to the directory where you want to
install IC, and run icw31.exe. This will unpack ic.exe
and the libs directory.
Plug the board into one of your computer's serial ports, and run IC. The first time you run IC, it will ask you for your license key and name; you should have received a license key when you purchased IC.
Try turning your board on. If your board has its "p-code" loaded, a message should come up that starts "IC v3.1"; if it does not, you will have to reload the p-code. You can do this with the "Reload PCode..." command (on the Board menu); the program will guide you through the steps.
Now you should be ready to use IC. Try running IC and typing "2+2"; you should get the response "Returned <int> 4".
When IC is running and attached to a 6811 system, C expressions,
function calls, and IC commands may be typed at the "C>"
prompt.
For example, to evaluate the arithmetic expression 1
+ 2, type the following:
C> 1 + 2
When this expression is typed, it is compiled by the console computer and then downloaded to the 6811 system for evaluation. The 6811 then evaluates the compiled form and returns the result, which is printed on the console computer's screen.
To evaluate a series of expressions, create a C block by beginning
with an open curly brace { and ending with a close
curly brace }. The following example creates a local
variable i and prints 10 (the sum of i + 7)
to the 6811's LCD screen:
C>{int i=3; printf("%d", i+7);}
IC responds to the following commands:
load filename
load filename
compiles and loads the named file. The board must be attached
for this to work. IC looks first in the local directory and then
in the IC library path for files. Several files may be loaded
into IC at once, allowing programs to be defined in multiple
files.
unload filename
unload filename
unloads the named file, and re-downloads remaining files.
list files
list files displays the names of
all files presently loaded into IC.
list globals
list globals displays the names
of all currently defined global variables.
list functions
list functions displays the names
of presently defined C functions.
list defines
list defines displays the names
and values of all currently defined preprocessor macros.
kill_all
kill_all
kills all currently running processes.
ps
ps
prints the status of currently running processes.
help
help displays
a help screen of IC commands.
quit
quit exits
IC. ^c can also be used.
IC has a built-in line editor and command history, allowing editing and re-use of previously typed statements and commands. The mnemonics for these functions are based on standard Emacs control key assignments.
To scan forward and backward in the command history, type ^p or uparrow for backward, and ^n or downarrow for forward.
Under Windows, only the functionality described in the rest of this section is not available (only ^p, ^n, uparrow, and downarrow are available). However, normal Windows editing methods can be used.
Under UNIX, an earlier line in the command history can be retrieved
by typing the exclamation point followed by the first few characters
of the line to retrieve, and then the space bar. For example,
if you had previously typed the command C> load foo.c,
then typing C>!lo followed by a space would retrieve
the line C> load foo.
The following are the keystroke mappings understood by IC for the Mac and UNIX versions.
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backward delete character |
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forward delete character |
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go backward a character |
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go forward a character |
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go to beginning of line |
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go to end of line |
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kill line (from cursor forward) |
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forward kill word |
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backward kill word |
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history last |
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history next |
The Mac and UNIX versions of IC do parenthesis-balance-highlighting as expressions are typed.
After functions have been downloaded to the board, they can
be invoked from the IC prompt. If one of the functions is named
main(), it will automatically be run when the board
is reset.
To reset the board without running the main()
function (for instance, when hooking the board back to the computer),
hold down the board's Start button (or Escape
on a 6.270 board) while pressing reset. The board will reset without
running main().
The IC programming language is based loosely on ANSI C. However, there are major differences.
Many of these differences arise from the desire to have IC be "safer" than standard C. For instance, in IC, array bounds are checked at run time; for this reason, arrays cannot be converted to pointers in IC. Also, in IC, pointer arithmetic is not allowed.
Other differences are due to the desire that the IC runtime be small and efficient. For instance, the IC printf function does not understand many of the more exotic formatting options specified by ANSI C.
Yet other differences are due to the desire that IC be simpler than standard C. This is the reason for the global scope of all declarations.
In the rest of this document, when we refer to "C", the statement applies to both IC and standard C. When we wish to specify one or the other, we will refer to either "IC" or "standard C". When no such qualifiers are present, you should assume that we are talking about IC.
Most C programs consist of function definitions and data structures.
Here is a simple C program that defines a single function, called
main.
void main()
{
printf("Hello, world!\n");
}
All functions must have a return type. Since main
does not return a value, it uses void, the null type,
as its return type. Other types include integers (int)
and floating point numbers (float). This function
declaration information must precede each function definition.
Immediately following the function declaration is the function's
name (in this case, main). Next, in parentheses,
are any arguments (or inputs) to the function. main
has none, but a empty set of parentheses is still required.
After the function arguments is an open curly-brace {. This signifies the start of the actual function code. Curly-braces signify program blocks, or chunks of code.
Next comes a series of C statements. Statements demand
that some action be taken. Our demonstration program has a single
statement, a printf (formatted print). This will
print the message "Hello, world!" to the
LCD display. The \n indicates end-of-line.
The printf statement ends with a semicolon (;).
All C statements must be ended by a semicolon. Beginning
C programmers commonly make the error of omitting the semicolon
that is required at the end of each statement.
The main function is ended by the close curly-brace
}.
Let's look at an another example to learn some more features of C. The following code defines the function square, which returns the mathematical square of a number.
int square(int n)
{
return(n * n);
}
The function is declared as type int, which means
that it will return an integer value. Next comes the function
name square, followed by its argument list in parentheses.
square has one argument, n, which is
an integer. Notice how declaring the type of the argument is done
similarly to declaring the type of the function.
When a function has arguments declared, those argument variables are valid within the "scope" of the function (i.e., they only have meaning within the function's own code). Other functions may use the same variable names independently.
The code for square is contained within the set
of curly braces. In fact, it consists of a single statement: the
return statement. The return statement
exits the function and returns the value of the C expression
that follows it (in this case "n * n").
Expressions are evaluated according set of precendence rules
depending on the various operations within the expression. In
this case, there is only one operation (multiplication), signified
by the "*", so precedence is not an issue.
Let's look at an example of a function that performs a function
call to the square program.
float hypotenuse(int a, int b)
{
float h;
h = sqrt((float)(square(a) + square(b)));
return(h);
}
This code demonstrates several more features of C. First, notice
that the floating point variable h is defined at
the beginning of the hypotenuse function. In general,
whenever a new program block (indicated by a set of curly braces)
is begun, new local variables may be defined.
The value of h is set to the result of a call
to the sqrt function. It turns out that sqrt
is a built-in IC function that takes a floating point number as
its argument.
We want to use the square function we defined
earlier, which returns its result as an integer. But the sqrt
function requires a floating point argument. We get around this
type incompatibility by coercing the integer sum (square(a)
+ square(b)) into a float by preceding it with the desired
type, in parentheses. Thus, the integer sum is made into a floating
point number and passed along to sqrt.
The hypotenuse function finishes by returning
the value of h.
This concludes the brief C tutorial.
Variables and constants are the basic data objects in a C program. Declarations list the variables to be used, state what type they are, and may set their initial value.
Variable names are case-sensitive. The underscore character
is allowed and is often used to enhance the readability of long
variable names. C keywords like if, while,
etc. may not be used as variable names.
Global variables and functions may not have the same name. In addition, if a local variable is named the same as a global or a function, the use of that global or function is prevented within the scope of the local variable.
In C, variables can be declared at the top level (outside of any curly braces) or at the start of each block (a functional unit of code surrounded by curly braces). In general, a variable declaration is of the form:
<type> <variable name>; or <type> <variable name>=<initialization data>;
In IC, <type> can be int, long, float,
char, or struct <struct name>, and determines
the primary type of the variable declared. This form
changes somewhat when dealing with pointer and array declarations,
which are explained in a later section, but in general this is
the way you declare variables.
If a variable is declared within a function, or as an argument to a function, its binding is local, meaning that the variable has existence only within that function definition.
If a variable is declared outside of a function, it is a global variable. It is defined for all functions, including functions which are defined in files other than the one in which the global variable was declared.
Local and global variables can be initialized to a value when they are declared. If no initialization value is given, the variable is initialized to zero.
All global variable declarations must be initialized to constant values. Local variables may be initialized to the value of arbitrary expressions including any globals, function calls, function arguments, or locals which have already been initialized.
Here is a small example of how initialized declarations are used.
int i=50; /* declare i as global integer -- initial value 50 */
long j=100L; /* declare j as global long -- initial value 100 */
int foo()
{
int x; /* declare x as local integer with initial value 0 */
long y=j; /* declare y as local integer with initial value j */
}
Local variables are initialized whenever the function containing them runs.
Global variables are initialized whenever a reset condition occurs. Reset conditions occur when:
main() procedure is run;
A special persistent form of global variable, has been implemented for IC. A persistent global may be initialized just like any other global, but its value is only initialized when the code is downloaded and not on any other reset conditions. If no initialization information is included for a persistent its value will be initialized to zero on download, but left unchanged on all other reset conditions.
To make a persistent global variable, prefix the type specifier
with the keyword persistent. For example, the statement
persistent int i=500;
creates a global integer called i with the initial
value 500.
Persistent variables keep their state when the board is turned
off and on, when main is run, and when system reset
occurs. Persistent variables will lose their state when code is
downloaded as a result of loading or unloading a file. However,
it is possible to read the values of your persistents in IC if
you are still running the same IC session from which the code
was downloaded. In this manner you could read the final values
of calibration persistents, for example, and modify the initial
values given to those persistents appropriately.
Persistent variables were created with two applications in mind:
Integers constants may be defined in decimal integer format
(e.g., 4053 or -1), hexadecimal format
using the "0x" prefix (e.g., 0x1fff),
and a non-standard but useful binary format using the "0b"
prefix (e.g., 0b1001001). Octal constants using the
zero prefix are not supported.
Long integer constants are created by appending the suffix
"l" or "L" (upper-
or lower-case alphabetic L) to a decimal integer. For example,
0L is the long zero. Either the upper or lower-case
"L" may be used, but upper-case is the convention for
readability.
Floating point numbers may use exponential notation (e.g.,
" 10e3" or "10E3")
or may contain a decimal period. For example, the floating point
zero can be given as "0.", "
0.0", or "0E1", but not as
just "0". Since the 6811 has no floating
point hardware, floating point operations are much slower than
integer operations, and should be used sparingly.
Quoted characters return their ASCII value (e.g., 'x').
Character string constants are defined with quotation marks,
e.g., "This is a character string.".
The special constant NULL has the value of zero and can be assigned to and compared to pointer or array variables (which will be described in later sections). In general, you cannot convert other constants to be of a pointer type, so there are many times when NULL can be useful.
For example, in order to check if a pointer has been initialized you could compare its value to NULL and not try to access its contents if it was NULL. Also, if you had a defined a linked list type consisting of a value and a pointer to the next element, you could look for the end of the list by comparing the next pointer to NULL.
IC supports the following data types:
16-bit integers are signified by the type indicator int.
They are signed integers, and may be valued from -32,768 to +32,767
decimal.
32-bit integers are signified by the type indicator long.
They are signed integers, and may be valued from -2,147,483,648
to +2,147,483,647 decimal.
Floating point numbers are signified by the type indicator
float. They have approximately seven decimal digits
of precision and are valued from about 10^-38 to 10^38.
Characters are an 8-bit number signified by the type indicator
char. A character's value typically represents a
printable symbol using the standard ASCII character code, but
this is not necessary; characters can be used to refer to arbitrary
8-bit numbers.
IC pointers are 16-bit numbers which represent locations in memory. Values in memory can be manipulated by calculating, passing and dereferencing pointers representing the location where the information is stored.
Arrays are used to store homogenous lists of data (meaning that all the elements of an array have the same type). Every array has a length which is determined at the time the array is declared. The data stored in the elements of an array can be set and retrieved in the same manner that other variables can be.
Structures are used to store non-homogenous but related sets of data. Elements of a structure are referenced by name instead of number and may be of any supported type. Structures are useful for organizing related data into a coherent format, reducing the number of arguments passed to functions, increasing the effective number of values which can be returned by functions, and creating complex data representations such as directed graphs and linked lists.
The address where a value is stored in memory is known as the pointer to that value. It is often useful to deal with pointers to objects, but great care must be taken to insure that the pointers used at any point in your code really do point to valid objects in memory. Attempts to refer to invalid memory locations could corrupt your memory. Most computing environments that you are probably used to return helpful messages like `Segmentation Violation' or `Bus Error' on attempts to access illegal memory. However, no such safety net exists in the 6.270 system and invalid pointer dereferencing is very likely to go undetected and cause serious damage to your data, your program, or even the pcode interpreter.
In past versions of IC, you could not return pointers from functions or have arrays of pointers. In order to facilitate the use of structures, these features have been added to the current version. With this change, the number of opportunities to misuse pointers have increased. However, if you follow a few simple precautions you should do fine.
First, you should always check that the value of a pointer is not equal to NULL (a special zero pointer) before you try to access it. Variables which are declared to be pointers are initialized to NULL, so many uninitialized values could be caught this way.
Second, you should never use a pointer to a local variable in a manner which could cause it to be accessed after the function in which it was declared terminates. When a function terminates the space where its values were being stored is recycled. Therefore not only may dereferencing such pointers return incorrect values, but assigning to those addresses could lead to serious data corruption. A good way to prevent this is to never return the address of a local variable from the function which declares it and never store those pointers in an object which will live longer than the function itself (a global pointer, array, or struct). Global variables and variables local to main will not move once declared and their pointers can be considered to be secure.
The type checking done by IC will help prevent many mishaps, but it will not catch all errors, so be careful.
A variable which is a pointer to an object of a given type
is declared in the same manner as a regular object of that type,
but with an extra * in front of the variable name.
The value stored at the location the pointer refers to is accessed
by using the * operator before the expression which
calculates the pointer. This process is known as dereferencing.
The address of a variable is calculated by using the &
operator before that variable, array element, or structure element
reference.
There are two main differences between how you would use a variable of a given type and a variable declared as a pointer to that type.
For the following explanation, consider X and Xptr as defined as follows:
long X; long *Xptr;
X is of type long, allocates the
space needed to store that value. Because an IC long takes four
bytes of memory, four bytes are reserved for the value of X
to occupy. However, a pointer like Xptr does not
have the same amount of space allocated for it that is needed
for an object of the type it points to. Therefore it can only
safely refer to space which has already been allocated for globals
(in a special section of memory reserved for globals) or locals
(temporary storage on the stack).
So, for example, consider what would happen if the first two statements after X and Xptr were declared were the following:
X=50L; *Xptr=50L;
The first statement is valid: it sets the value of X
to 50L. The second statement would be valid if Xptr
had been properly initialized, but in this case it is not. Therefore,
this statement would corrupt memory.
Here is a sequence of commands you could try which illustrate
how pointers and the * and & operators
are used. It also shows that once a pointer has been set to point
at a place in memory, references to it actually share the same
memory as the object it points to:
X=50L; /* set the memory allocated for X to the value 50 */ Xptr=&X; /* set Xptr to point to X */ *Xptr; /* see that the value pointed at by Xptr is 50 */ X=100L; /* set X to the value 100 */ *Xptr; /* see that the value pointed at by Xptr changed to 100 */ *Xptr=200L; /* set the value pointed at by Xptr to 200 */ X; /* see that the value in X changed to 200 */
Pointers can be passed to functions and functions can change the values of the variables that are pointed at. This is termed call-by-reference; a reference, or pointer, to a variable is given to the function that is being called. This is in contrast to call-by-value, the standard way that functions are called, in which the value of a variable is given the to function being called.
The following example defines an average_sensor
function which takes a port number and a pointer to an integer
variable. The function will average the sensor and store the result
in the variable pointed at by result.
Function arguments are declared to be pointers by prepending a star to the argument name, just as is done for other variable declarations.
void average_sensor(int port, int *result)
{
int sum= 0;
int i;
for (i= 0; i< 10; i++) sum += analog(port);
*result= sum/10;
}
Notice that the function itself is declared as a void.
It does not need to return anything, because it instead stores
its answer in the pointer variable that is passed to it.
The pointer variable is used in the last line of the function.
In this statement, the answer sum/10 is stored at
the location pointed at by result. Notice that the
asterisk is used to assign a value to the location pointed
by result.
Pointers can also be returned from functions. Functions are defined to return pointers by preceeding the name of the function with a star, just like any other type of pointer declaration.
int right,left;
int *dirptr(int dir)
{
if(dir==0) {
return(&right);
}
if(dir==1) {
return(&left);
}
return(NULL);
}
The function dirptr returns a pointer to the global
right when its argument dir is 0, a
pointer to left when its argument is 1, and NULL
if its argument is other than 0 or 1.
IC supports arrays of characters, integers, long integers, floating-point numbers, structures, pointers, and array pointers (multi-dimensional arrays). While unlike regular C arrays in a number of respects, they can be used in a similar manner. The main reasons that arrays are useful are that they allow you to allocate space for many instances of a given type, send an arbitrary number of values to functions, and iterate over a set of values.
Arrays in IC are different and incompatible with arrays in other versions of C. This incompatibility is caused by the fact that references to IC arrays are checked to insure that the reference is truly within the bounds of that array. In order to accomplish this checking in the general case, it is necessary that the size of the array be stored with the contents of the array. It is important to remember that an array of a given type and a pointer to the same type are incompatible types in IC, whereas they are largely interchangeable in regular C.
Arrays are declared using square brackets. The following statement declares an array of ten integers:
int foo[10];
In this array, elements are numbered from 0 to 9. Elements
are accessed by enclosing the index number within square brackets:
foo[4] denotes the fifth element of the array foo
(since counting begins at zero).
Arrays are initialized by default to contain all zero values. Arrays may also be initialized at declaration by specifying the array elements, separated by commas, within curly braces. If no size value is specified within the square brackets when the array is declared but initialization information is given, the size of the array is determined by the number of elements given in the declaration. For example,
int foo[]= {0, 4, 5, -8, 17, 301};
creates an array of six integers, with foo[0]
equalling 0, foo[1] equalling 4, etc.
If a size is specified and initialization data is given, the length of the initialization data may not exceed the specified length of the array or an error results. If, on the other hand, you specify the size and provide fewer initialization elements than the total length of the array, the remaining elements are initialized to zero.
Character arrays are typically text strings. There is a special syntax for initializing arrays of characters. The character values of the array are enclosed in quotation marks:
char string[]= "Hello there";
This form creates a character array called string
with the ASCII values of the specified characters. In addition,
the character array is terminated by a zero. Because of this zero-termination,
the character array can be treated as a string for purposes of
printing (for example). Character arrays can be initialized using
the curly braces syntax, but they will not be automatically null-terminated
in that case. In general, printing of character arrays that are
not null-terminated will cause problems.
When an array is passed to a function as an argument, the array's pointer is actually passed, rather than the elements of the array. If the function modifies the array values, the array will be modified, since there is only one copy of the array in memory.
In normal C, there are two ways of declaring an array argument: as an array or as a pointer to the type of the array's elements. In IC array pointers are incompatible with pointers to the elements of an array so such arguments can only be declared as arrays.
As an example, the following function takes an index and an array, and returns the array element specified by the index:
int retrieve_element(int index, int array[])
{
return array[index];
}
Notice the use of the square brackets to declare the argument
array as a pointer to an array of integers.
When passing an array variable to a function, you are actually passing the value of the array pointer itself and not one of its elements, so no square brackets are used.
void foo()
{
int array[10];
retrieve_element(3, array);
}
A two-dimensional array is just like a single dimensional array whose elements are one-dimensional arrays. Declaration of a two-dimensional array is as follows:
int k[2][3];
The number in the first set of brackets is the number of 1-D
arrays of int. The number in the second set of brackets
is the length of each of the 1-D arrays of int. In
this example, k is an array containing two 1-D arrays;
k[0] is a 1-D array of int of length
3; k[0][1] is an int. Arrays of with
any number of dimensions can be generalized from this example
by adding more brackets in the declaration.
An advantage of the way IC deals with arrays is that you can determine the size of arrays at runtime. This allows you to do size checking on an array if you are uncertian of its dimensions and possibly prevent your program from crashing.
Since _array_size is not a standard C feature,
code written using this primitive will only be able to be compiled
with IC .
The _array_size primitive returns the size of
the array given to it regardless of the dimension or type of the
array. Here is an example of declarations and interaction with
the _array_size primitive:
int i[4]={10,20,30};
int j[3][2]={{1,2},{2,4},{15}};
int k[2][2][2];
_array_size(i); /* returns 4 */
_array_size(j); /* returns 3 */
_array_size(j[0]); /* returns 2 */
_array_size(k); /* returns 2 */
_array_size(k[0]); /* returns 2 */
Structures are used to store non-homogenous but related sets of data. Elements of a structure are referenced by name instead of number and may be of any supported type. Structures are useful for organizing related data into a coherent format, reducing the number of arguments passed to functions, increasing the effective number of values which can be returned by functions, and creating complex data representations such as directed graphs and linked lists.
The following example shows how to define a structure, declare a variable of structure type, and access its elements.
struct foo {
int i;
int j;
};
struct foo f1;
void set_f1(int i,int j)
{
f1.i=i;
f1.j=j;
}
void get_f1(int *i,int *j)
{
*i=f1.i;
*j=f1.j;
}
The first part is the structure definition. It consists of
the keyword struct, followed by the name of the structure
(which can be any valid identifier), followed by a list of named
elements in curly braces. This definition specifies the structure
of the type struct foo.
Once there is a definition of this form, you can use the type
struct foo just like any other type. The line struct
foo f1; is a global variable declaration which declares
the variable f1 to be of type struct foo.
The dot operator is used to access the elements of a variable
of structure type. In this case, f1.i and f1.j
refer to the two elements of f1. You can treat the
quantities f1.i and f1.j just as you
would treat any variables of type int (the type of
the elements was defined in the structure declaration at the top
to be int).
Pointers to structure types can also be used, just like pointers to any other type. However, with structures, there is a special short-cut for referring to the elements of the structure pointed to.
struct foo *fptr;
void main()
{
fptr=&f1;
fptr->i=10;
fptr->j=20;
}
In this example, fptr is declared to be a pointer
to type struct foo. In main, it is set
to point to the global f1 defined above. Then the
elements of the structure pointed to by fptr (in
this case these are the same as the elements of f1),
are set. The arrow operator is used instead of the dot operator
because fptr is a pointer to a variable of type struct foo.
Note that (*fptr).i would have worked just as well
as fptr->i, but it would have been clumsier.
Note that only pointers to structures, not the structures themselves, can be passed to or returned from functions.
Complex types -- arrays and structures -- may be initialized upon declaration with a sequence of constant values contained within curly braces and separated by commas. Arrays of character may also be initialized with a quoted string of characters.
For initialized declarations of single dimensional arrays, the length can be left blank and a suitable length based on the initialization data will be assigned to it. Multi-dimensional arrays must have the size of all dimensions specified when the array is declared. If a length is specified, the initialization data may not overflow that length in any dimension or an error will result. However, the initialization data may be shorter than the specified size and the remaining entries will be initialized to 0.
Following is an example of legal global and local variable initializations:
/* declare many globals of various types */
int i=50;
int *ptr=NULL;
float farr[3]={ 1.2, 3.6, 7.4 };
int tarr[2][4]={ { 1, 2, 3, 4 }, { 2, 4, 6, 8} };
char c[]="Hi there how are you?";
char carr[5][10]={"Hi","there","how","are","you"};
struct bar {
int i;
int *p;
long j;} b={5, NULL, 10L};
struct bar barr[2] = { { 1, NULL, 2L }, { 3 } };
/* declare locals of various types */
int foo()
{
int x; /* create local variable x
with initial value 0 */
int y= tarr[0][2]; /* create local variable y
with initial value 3 */
int *iptr=&i; /* create a local pointer to integer
which points to the global i */
int larr[2]={10,20}; /* create a local array larr
with elements 10 and 20 */
struct bar lb={5,NULL,10L}; /* create a local variable of type
struct bar with i=5 and j=10 */
char lc[]=carr[2]; /* create a local string lc with
initial value "how" */
...
}
Operators act upon objects of a certain type or types and specify what is to be done to them. Expressions combine variables and constants to create new values. Statements are expressions, assignments, function calls, or control flow statements which make up C programs.
Each of the data types has its own set of operators that determine which operations may be performed on them.
The following operations are supported on integers:
+, subtraction
-, multiplication *, division /.
>,
less-than <, equality ==, greater-than-equal
>=, less-than-equal <=.
|,
bitwise-AND &, bitwise-exclusive-OR ^,
bitwise-NOT ~.
||,
logical-AND &&, logical-NOT !.
When a C statement uses a boolean value (for example, if),
it takes the integer zero as meaning false, and any integer other
than zero as meaning true. The boolean operators return zero
for false and one for true. Boolean operators &&
and || will stop executing as soon as the truth
of the final expression is determined. For example, in the expression
a && b, if a is false, then
b does not need to be evaluated because the result
must be false. The && operator therefore
will not evaluate b.
A subset of the operations implemented for integers are implemented
for long integers: arithmetic addition +, subtraction
-, and multiplication *, and the integer
comparison operations. Bitwise and boolean operations and division
are not supported.
IC uses a package of public-domain floating point routines distributed by Motorola. This package includes arithmetic, trigonometric, and logarithmic functions. Since floating point operations are implemented in software, they are much slower than the integer operations; we recommend against using floating point if you're concerned about performance.
The following operations are supported on floating point numbers:
+, subtraction
-, multiplication *, division /.
>,
less-than <, equality ==, greater-than-equal
>=, less-than-equal <=.
Characters are only allowed in character arrays. When a cell of the array is referenced, it is automatically coerced into a integer representation for manipulation by the integer operations. When a value is stored into a character array, it is coerced from a standard 16-bit integer into an 8-bit character (by truncating the upper eight bits).
The basic assignment operator is =. The following
statement adds 2 to the value of a.
a = a + 2;
The abbreviated form
a += 2;
could also be used to perform the same operation.
All of the following binary operators can be used in this fashion:
+ - * / % << >> & ^ |
The increment operator "++" increments
the named variable. For example, the statement "a++"
is equivalent to "a= a+1" or "a+=
1".
A statement that uses an increment operator has a value. For example, the statement
a= 3;
printf("a=%d a+1=%d\n", a, ++a);
will display the text "a=3 a+1=4."
If the increment operator comes after the named variable, then the value of the statement is calculated after the increment occurs. So the statement
a= 3;
printf("a=%d a+1=%d\n", a, a++);
would display "a=3 a+1=3" but would
finish with a set to 4.
The decrement operator "--" is used
in the same fashion as the increment operator.
&
*
[expr]
.
->
f.i and (&f)->i
are equivalent.
The following table summarizes the rules for precedence and associativity for the C operators. Operators listed earlier in the table have higher precedence; operators on the same line of the table have equal precedence.
| Operator | Associativity |
|---|---|
| () [] | left to right |
| ! ~ ++ -- - (type) | right to left |
| * / % | left to right |
| + - | left to right |
| << >> | left to right |
| < <= > >= | left to right |
| == != | left to right |
| & | left to right |
| ^ | left to right |
| | | left to right |
| && | left to right |
| || | right to left |
| = += -= etc. | right to left |
| , | left to right |
IC supports most of the standard C control structures. One
notable exception is the switch statement, which
is not supported.
A single C statement is ended by a semicolon. A series of statements may be grouped together into a block using curly braces. Inside a block, local variables may be defined.
The if else statement is used to make decisions.
The syntax is:
if (expression) statement-1 else statement-2
expression is evaluated; if it is not equal to zero (e.g., logic true), then statement-1 is executed.
The else clause is optional. If the if
part of the statement did not execute, and the else
is present, then statement-2 executes.
The syntax of a while loop is the following:
while (expression) statement
while begins by evaluating expression.
If it is false, then statement is skipped. If it is true,
then statement is evaluated. Then the expression is evaluated
again, and the same check is performed. The loop exits when expression
becomes zero.
One can easily create an infinite loop in C using the while
statement:
while (1) statement
The syntax of a for loop is the following:
for (expr-1;expr-2;expr-3) statement
This is equivalent to the following construct using while:
expr-1;
while (expr-2) {
statement
expr-3;
}
Typically, expr-1 is an assignment, expr-2 is a relational expression, and expr-3 is an increment or decrement of some manner. For example, the following code counts from 0 to 99, printing each number along the way:
int i;
for (i= 0; i < 100; i++)
printf("%d\n", i);
Use of the break provides an early exit from a
while or a for loop.
IC has a version of the C function printf for
formatted printing to the LCD screen.
The syntax of printf is the following:
printf(format-string, [arg-1] , ... , [arg-N] )
This is best illustrated by some examples.
Example 1: Printing a message. The following statement prints a text string to the screen.
printf("Hello, world!\n");
In this example, the format string is simply printed to the screen.
The character \n at the end of the string signifies
end-of-line. When an end-of-line character is printed,
the LCD screen will be cleared when a subsequent character is
printed. Thus, most printf statements are terminated
by a \n.
Example 2: Printing a number. The following statement
prints the value of the integer variable x with a
brief message.
printf("Value is %d\n", x);
The special form %d is used to format the printing
of an integer in decimal format.
Example 3: Printing a number in binary. The following
statement prints the value of the integer variable x
as a binary number.
printf("Value is %b\n", x);
The special form %b is used to format the printing
of an integer in binary format. Only the low byte of
the number is printed.
Example 4: Printing a floating point number. The following
statement prints the value of the floating point variable n
as a floating point number.
printf("Value is %f\n", n);
The special form %f is used to format the printing
of floating point number.
Example 5: Printing two numbers in hexadecimal format.
printf("A=%x B=%x\n", a, b);
The form %x formats an integer to print in hexadecimal.
%d
int Description: decimal number
%x
int Description: hexadecimal number
%b
int Description: low byte as binary number
%c
int Description: low byte as ASCII character
%f
float Description: floating point number
%s
char array Description: char array (string)
| Format Command | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
%d |
int | decimal number |
%x |
int | hexadecimal number |
%b |
int | low byte as binary number |
%c |
int | low byte as ASCII character |
%f |
float | floating point number |
%s |
char array | char array (string) |
printf()
command treats the display as a single longer line.
The preprocessor processes a file before it is sent to the
compiler. The IC preprocessor allows definition of macros, and
conditional compilation of sections of code. Using preprocessor
macros for constants and function macros can make IC code more
efficient as well as easier to read. Using #if to
conditionally compile code can be very useful, for instance, for
debugging purposes.
Preprocessor macros are defined by using the #define
preprocessor directive at the start of a line. If a macro is defined
anywhere in any of the files loaded into IC, it can be used anywhere
in any file. The following example shows how to define preprocessor
macros.
#define RIGHT_MOTOR 0
#define LEFT_MOTOR 1
#define GO_RIGHT(power) (motor(RIGHT_MOTOR,(power)))
#define GO_LEFT(power) (motor(LEFT_MOTOR,(power)))
#define GO(left,right) {GO_LEFT(left); GO_RIGHT(right);}
void main()
{
GO(0,0);
}
Preprocessor macro definitions start with the #define
directive at the start of a line, and continue to the end of the
line. After #define is the name of the macro, such
as RIGHT_MOTOR. If there is a parenthesis directly
after the name of the macro, such as the GO_RIGHT
macro has above, then the macro has arguments. The GO_RIGHT
and GO_LEFT macros each take one argument. The GO
macro takes two arguments. After the name and the optional argument
list is the body of the macro.
Each time a macro is invoked, it is replaced with its body. If the macro has arguments, then each place the argument appears in the body is replaced with the actual argument provided.
Invocations of macros without arguments look like global variable references. Invocations of macros with arguments look like calls to functions. To an extent, this is how they act. However, macro replacement happens before compilation, whereas global references and function calls happen at run time. Also, function calls evaluate their arguments before they are called, whereas macros simply perform text replacement. For example, if the actual argument given to a macro contains a function call, and the macro instantiates its argument more than once in its body, then the function would be called multiple times, whereas it would only be called once if it were being passed as a function argument instead.
Appropriate use of macros can make IC programs and easier to read. It allows constants to be given symbolic names without requiring storage and access time as a global would. It also allows macros with arguments to be used in cases when a function call is desirable for abstraction, without the performance penalty of calling a function.
Macros defined in files can be used at the command line. Macros
can also be defined at the commandline to be used in interactively,
but these will not affect loads or compilation. To obtain a list
of the currently defined macros, type list defines
at the IC prompt.
It is sometimes desirable to conditionally compile code. The
primary example of this is that you may want to perform debugging
output sometimes, and disable it at other times. The IC preprocessor
provides a convenient way of doing this by using the #ifdef
directive.
void go_left(int power)
{
GO_LEFT(power);
#ifdef DEBUG
printf("Going Left\n");
beep();
#endif
}
In this example, when the macro DEBUG is defined,
the debugging message "Going Left" will be printed and
the board will beep each time go_left is called.
If the macro is not defined, the message and beep will not happen.
Each #ifdef must be follwed by an #endif
at the end of the code which is being conditionally compiled.
The macro to be checked can be anything, and #ifdef
blocks may be nested.
Unlike regular C preprocessors, macros cannot be conditionally
defined. If a macro definition occurs inside an #ifdef
block, it will be defined regardless of whether the #ifdef
evaluates to true or false. The compiler will generate a warning
if macro definitions occur within an #ifdef block.
The #if, #else, and #elif
directives are also available, but are outside the scope of this
document. Refer to a C reference manual for how to use them.
The way in which IC deals with loading multiple files is fundamentally
different from the way in which it is done in standard C. In particular,
when using standard C, files are compliled completely independently
of each other, then linked together. In IC, on the other hand,
all files are compiled together. This is why standard C needs
function prototypes and extern global definitions
in order for multiple files to share functions and globals, while
IC does not.
In a standard C preprocessor, preprocessor macros defined in
one C file cannot be used in another C file unless defined again.
Also, the scope of macros is only from the point of definition
to the end of the file. The solution then is to have the prototypes,
extern declarations, and macros in header files which
are then included at the top of each C file using the #include
directive. This style interacts well with the fact that each file
is compiled independent of all the others.
However, since declarations in IC do not file scope, it would
be inconsistent to have a preprocessor with file scope. Therefore,
for consistency it was desirable to give IC macros the same behavior
as globals and functions. Therefore, preprocessor macros have
global scope. If a macro is defined anywhere in the files loaded
into IC, it is defined everywhere. Therefore, the #include
and #undef directives did not seem to have any appropriate
purpose, and were accordingly left out.
The fact that #define directives contained within
#if blocks are defined regardless of whether the
#if evaluates to be true or false is a side effect
of making the preprocessor macros have global scope.
Other than these modifications, the IC preprocessor should be compatible with regular C preprocessors.
Library files provide standard C functions for interfacing with hardware on the robot controller board. These functions are written either in C or as assembly language drivers. Library files provide functions to do things like control motors, make tones, and input sensors values.
IC automatically loads the library file every time it is invoked. Depending on which 6811 board is being used, a different library file will be required. IC may be configured to load different library files as its default; the Windows and Mac versions of IC will automatically load the correct library for the board you're using at the moment.
This documentation covers the libraries for the Handy Board and 6.270 board (Rev. 2.21) only; if you have another board, see your owner's manual for documentation.
To understand better how the library functions work, study
of the library file source code is recommended. The main library
file for the Rev. 2.21 6.270 Board is named lib_r22.lis;
for the Handy Board, the main library file is named lib_hb.lis.
The Handy Board has four motor ports, numbered from 0 to 3. The 6.270 board has 6 motor ports, numbered from 0 to 5; ports for motors 0 to 3 are located on the Microprocessor Board while motors 4 and 5 are located on the Expansion Board.
Motor may be set in a "forward" direction (corresponding to the green motor LED being lit) and a "backward" direction (corresponding to the motor red LED being lit).
The functions fd(int m) and bk(int m)
turn motor m on forward or backward, respectively,
at full power. The function off(int m) turns motor
m off.
The power level of motors may also be controlled. This is done
in software by turning a motor on and off rapidly (a technique
called pulse-width modulation. The motor(int m,
int p) function allows control of a motor's power level.
Powers range from 100 (full on in the forward direction)
to -100 (full on the the backward direction). The
system software actually only controls motors to seven degrees
of power, but argument bounds of -100 and +100
are used.
void fd(int m)
m on in the forward direction. Example:
fd(3);
void bk(int m)
m on in the backward direction.
Example: bk(1);
void off(int m)
m. Example: off(1);
void alloff()
void ao()
ao is a short form for
alloff.
void motor(int m, int p)
m at power level p.
Power levels range from 100 for full on forward
to -100 for full on backward.
Servos are motors with internal position feedback which you can accurately command to a given orientation. Servos will actively seek to move to and remain at the orientation they are commanded to go to. Servos are useful for aiming sensors or moving actuators through a limited arc. They are generally able to sweep through about 180 degrees and no more.
Library routines allows control of a single servo motor. The servo motor has a three-wire connection: power, ground, and control.
On a 6.270 board, there is a dedicated connection for the servo on the main board at the top of the bank of connectors which are above and to the left of the main power switch. A three prong connector with ground on the left, power in the middle, and control on the right should be used to plug the servo into its connector. So long as you are sure to get power in the middle, the servo will not be damaged by plugging it in backwards, but will simply not work until it is plugged in properly.
See The Handy Board Technical Reference for information
on how to attach a servo motor to a Handy Board. To use these
functions on a Handy Board, you must explicitly load the files
servo.c and servo.icb.
The position of the servo motor shaft is controlled by a rectangular waveform that is generated on the A7 pin. The duration of the positive pulse of the waveform determines the position of the shaft. The acceptable width of the pulse varies for different models of servos, but is approximately 700 timer cycles minimum and 4000 timer cycles maximum, where the 6811's timer runs at 2MHz. The pulse is repeated approximately every 20 milliseconds.
void servo_on()
void servo_off()
int servo(int period)
period
timer cycles so long as that falls within the acceptable range
for the servo. Otherwise it trunctates the value to the closest
the servo is physically able to go to. It returns the thresholded
version of the period you gave it. Remember that servos have
a finite reaction time which, while very fast to human senses
of time, is very slow to a processor. If you are resetting the
servo angle in a tight loop it may well never catch up with you.
int servo_rad(float angle)
pi radians.
int servo_deg(float angle)
int radian_to_pulse(float angle)
int degree_to_pulse(float angle)
On the 6.270 board, there are two output ports located on the Expansion Board that are suitable for driving LEDs or other small loads. These ports draw their power from the motor battery and hence will only work when that battery is connected.
The Handy Board does not include these ports.
The following commands are used to control the LED ports:
void led_out0(int s)
s is non-zero; turns it
off otherwise.
void led_out1(int s)
s is non-zero; turns it
off otherwise.
On the 6.270 board, motor ports 4 and 5, located on the Expansion Board, may also be used to control unidirectional devices, such as a solenoid, lamp, or a motor that needs to be driven in one direction only. Each of the two motor ports, when used in this fashion, can independently control two such devices.
As mentioned above, the Handy Board does not have these ports.
To use the ports unidirectionally, the two-pin header directly beneath the motor 4 and 5 LEDs is used.
void motor4_left(int s)
s is non-zero;
turns it off otherwise.
void motor4_right(int s)
s is
non-zero; turns it off otherwise.
void motor5_left(int s)
s is non-zero;
turns it off otherwise.
void motor5_right(int s)
s is
non-zero; turns it off otherwise.
int digital(int p)
p,
as a true/false value (1 for true and 0 for false). Sensors are
expected to be active low, meaning that they are valued
at zero volts in the active, or true, state. Thus the library
function returns the inverse of the actual reading from the digital
hardware: if the reading is zero volts or logic zero, the digital()
function will return true.
The 6.270 board has four DIP switches on the expansion board. The Handy Board does not have DIP switches.
int dip_switch(int sw)
sw on the expansion
board. Switches are numbered from 1 to 4 as per labelling on
the actual switch. Result is 1 if the switch is in the position
labelled "on," and 0 if not.
int dip_switches()
Both the Handy Board and the 6.270 board have two buttons. On the Handy Board, the buttons are labelled Start and Stop; on the 6.270 board, the buttons are labelled Escape and Choose.
int stop_button() (or choose_button() for the 6.270
board)
/* wait until stop
button pressed */ while (!stop_button()) {}
int start_button() (or escape_button())
/* wait for button to be pressed; then wait for
it to be released so that button press is debounced */ while
(!start_button()) {} while (start_button()) {}
The Handy Board has two additional convenience functions; these currently do not have analogs for the 6.270 board.
void stop_press()
stop_press() is as follows: while (!stop_button()); while (stop_button()); beep();
void start_press()
stop_press(), but for the Start
button.
int analog(int p)
p. Result
is integer between 0 and 255. If the analog() function
is applied to a port that is implemented digitally in hardware,
then the value 255 is returned if the hardware digital
reading is 1 (as if a digital switch is open, and the pull up
resistors are causing a high reading), and the value 0 is returned
if the hardware digital reading is 0 (as if a digital
switch is closed and pulling the reading near ground). Ports
are numbered as marked.
int knob() (or frob_knob() on the 6.270 board)
The 6.270 board contains experimental circuitry for detecting the force being applied by a motor. The Handy Board does not contain this circuitry.
int motor_force(int m)
m. Result is integer between 0 and 255, but
typical readings range from about 40 (low force) to 100 (high
force). The force-sensing circuitry functions properly only when
motors are operated at full speed. The circuit returns invalid
results when motors are pulse-width modulated because of spikes
that occur in the feedback path. The force-sensing circuitry
is implemented for motors 0 through 3.
The infrared subsystem is composed of two parts: an infrared transmitter, and infrared receivers. Software is provided to control transmission frequency and detection of infrared light at two frequencies.
void ir_transmit_on()
void ir_transmit_off()
void set_ir_transmit_period(int period)
period determines
the delay in half-microseconds between transitions of the infrared
waveform. If period is set to 10,000, a frequency
of 100 Hz. will be generated. If period is set to
8,000, a frequency of 125 Hz. will be generated. The decoding
software is capable of detecting transmissions on either of these
two frequencies only.
void set_ir_transmit_frequency(int frequency)
frequency
is measured in hertz. Upon a reset condition, the infrared transmission
frequency is set for 100 Hz. and is disabled.
In a typical 6.270 application, one robot will be broadcasting infrared at 100 Hz. and will set its detection system for 125 Hz. The other robot will do the opposite. Each robot must physically shield its IR sensors from its own light; then each robot can detect the emissions of the other.
The infrared reception software employs a phase-locked loop to detect infrared signals modulated at a particular frequency. This program generates an internal squarewave at the desired reception frequency and attempts to lock this squarewave into synchronization with a waveform received by an infrared sensor. If the error between the internal wave and the external wave is below some threshold, the external wave is considered "detected." The software returns as a result the number of consecutive detections for each of the infrared sensor inputs.
While enabled, the infrared reception software requires a great deal of processor time. Therefore, it is desirable to disable the IR reception whenever it is not being actively used.
Up to four infrared sensors may be used. These are plugged into positions 4 through 7 of the digital input port. These ports and the remainder of the digital input port may be used without conflict for standard digital input while the infrared detection software is operating.
The following library functions control the infrared detection system:
void ir_receive_on()
void ir_receive_off()
void set_ir_receive_frequency(int f)
f should be 100 for 100 Hz. or 125 for 125 Hz. Default
is 100.
int ir_counts(int p)
p of the digital input port.
Result is number from 0 to 255. p must be 4, 5,
6, or 7 Random noise can cause spurious readings of 1 or 2 detections.
The return value of ir_counts() should be greater
than three before it is considered the result of a valid detection.
You must wait at least 100 milliseconds after starting the
reception before the ir_counts() data is valid.
Shaft encoders can be used to count the number of times a wheel spins, or in general the number of digital pulses seen by an input. Two types of shaft encoders can be made using 6.270 sensors: optical encoders which use optical switches whose beam is periodically broken by a slotted wheel, or magnetic encoders which use Hall effect sensors which change state when a magnet on a shaft rotates past.
Shaft encoders are implemented using the input timer capture feature on the 6811. Therefore processing time is only used when a pulse is actually being recorded, and even very fast pulses can be counted. Digital ports 0 and 1 are two input capture channels which are available for use on the Handy Board and on the 6.270 board, so two channels of shaft encoding are supported.
The encoding software keeps a running count of the number of pulses each enabled encoder has seen. The number of counts is set to 0 when a chanel is first enabled and when a user resets that channel. Because the counters are only 16-bits wide, they will overflow and the value will appear negative after 32,767 counts have been accumulated without a reset.
As shaft encoders are an optional feature, the library routines which read them are not loaded on start up.
In order to load the following routines for use in your programs,
load the file encoders.lis. This file is in the standard
IC library directory.
The actions of the shaft encoders are commanded and the results
are read using the following routines. The argument encoder
to each of the routines specifies which shaft encoder the function
should affect. This value should be 0 for digital port 0 or one
for digital port 1. Arguments out of the range 0 to 1 have no
useful effect.
void enable_encoder(int encoder)
void disable_encoder(int encoder)
void reset_encoder(int encoder)
enable_encoder() to clear it.
int read_encoder(int encoder)
System code keeps track of time passage in milliseconds. Library functions are provided to allow dealing with time in milliseconds (using long integers), or seconds (using floating point numbers).
void reset_system_time()
long mseconds()
reset_system_time(). mseconds()
is implemented as a C primitive (not as a library function).
float seconds()
void sleep(float sec)
sec seconds. sec is a floating
point number. Example: /* wait for 1.5 seconds */ sleep(1.5);
void msleep(long msec)
msec
milliseconds. msec is a long integer. Example: /* wait for 1.5 seconds */ msleep(1500L);
Two simple commands are provided for producing tones on the standard beeper.
void beep()
void tone(float frequency, float length)
frequency Hertz for
length seconds. Returns when the tone is finished.
Both frequency and length are floats.
In addition to the simple tone commands, the following functions
can be used asynchronously to control the beeper driver.
void set_beeper_pitch(float frequency)
frequency Hz. The
subsequent function is then used to turn the beeper on.
void beeper_on()
beeper_off
function is executed.
void beeper_off()
These functions are not loaded automatically, but they are available for you to use if you wish. They currently work only on the 6.270 board, but could probably be ported to the Handy Board without too much trouble. They provide a standardized user interface for prompting users for input using the Choose and Select buttons and the frob knob. You may wish to use this library for debugging the state of your robot while away from the terminal or for changing thresholds or gains on the fly.
Load menu.c to be able to use these functions.
int select_string(char choices[][],int n)
char a[3][14]={"Analog
Port ","Digital Port ","Quit"}; int
port,index=select_string(a,3); if(index>-1 && index<2)
port=select_int_value(a[index],0,27);
int select_int_value(char s[],int min_val,int max_val)
float select_float_value(char s[],float min_val,float
max_val)
min_val
and max_val which is selected by adjusting the frob
knob until the appropriate value is displayed then pressing a
button. If escape was pressed, returns -1 (or -1.0)
regardless of the value chosen. Otherwise returns the chosen
value. Remember that the frob knob only returns one of 255 values,
so if the range is greater than that not all values will be possible
choices.
int chosen_button()
int wait_button(int mode)
mode then returns which button was pressed. The
choices for mode are: DOWN_B -- wait until either
button is pressed; UP_B -- wait until no buttons are pressed;
CYCLE_B -- wait until a button is depressed and then all depressed
buttons are released before returning.
Load menu.c and diagnostic.c to be
able to use these functions. You can easily copy diagnostic.c
and modify the control_panel function to call your
own routines.
void control_panel()
int view_average_port(int port,int samples)
samples
readings together, then prints and returns the average result.
If the button pushed was ecape, it returns -1.
void view_inputs()
void frob_outputs()
One of the most powerful features of IC is its multi-tasking facility. Processes can be created and destroyed dynamically during run-time.
Any C function can be spawned as a separate task. Multiple tasks running the same code, but with their own local variables, can be created.
Processes communicate through global variables: one process can set a global to some value, and another process can read the value of that global.
Each time a process runs, it executes for a certain number of ticks, defined in milliseconds. This value is determined for each process at the time it is created. The default number of ticks is five; therefore, a default process will run for 5 milliseconds until its "turn" ends and the next process is run. All processes are kept track of in a process table; each time through the table, each process runs once (for an amount of time equal to its number of ticks).
Each process has its own program stack. The stack is used to pass arguments for function calls, store local variables, and store return addresses from function calls. The size of this stack is defined at the time a process is created. The default size of a process stack is 256 bytes.
Processes that make extensive use of recursion or use large local arrays will probably require a stack size larger than the default. Each function call requires two stack bytes (for the return address) plus the number of argument bytes; if the function that is called creates local variables, then they also use up stack space. In addition, C expressions create intermediate values that are stored on the stack.
It is up to the programmer to determine if a particular process requires a stack size larger than the default. A process may also be created with a stack size smaller than the default, in order to save stack memory space, if it is known that the process will not require the full default amount.
When a process is created, it is assigned a unique process identification number or pid. This number can be used to kill a process.
The function to create a new process is start_process.
start_process takes one mandatory argument--the function
call to be started as a process. There are two optional arguments:
the process's number of ticks and stack size. (If only one optional
argument is given, it is assumed to be the ticks number, and the
default stack size is used.)
start_process has the following syntax:
int start_process(function-call(...),[TICKS],[STACK-SIZE])
start_process returns an integer, which is the
process ID assigned to the new process.
The function call may be any valid call of the function used.
The following code shows the function main creating
a process:
void check_sensor(int n)
{
while (1)
printf("Sensor %d is %d\n", n, digital(n));
}
void main()
{
start_process(check_sensor(2));
}
Normally when a C functions ends, it exits with a return value
or the "void" value. If a function invoked as a process
ends, it "dies," letting its return value (if there
was one) disappear. (This is okay, because processes communicate
results by storing them in globals, not by returning them as return
values.) Hence in the above example, the check_sensor
function is defined as an infinite loop, so as to run forever
(until the board is reset or a kill_process is executed).
Creating a process with a non-default number of ticks or a
non-default stack size is simply a matter of using start_process
with optional arguments; e.g.
start_process(check_sensor(2), 1, 50);
will create a check_sensor process that runs for
1 milliseconds per invocation and has a stack size of 50 bytes
(for the given definition of check_sensor, a small
stack space would be sufficient).
The kill_process function is used to destroy processes.
Processes are destroyed by passing their process ID number to
kill_process, according to the following syntax:
int kill_process(int pid);
kill_process returns a value indicating if the
operation was successful. If the return value is 0,
then the process was destroyed. If the return value is 1,
then the process was not found.
The following code shows the main process creating
a check_sensor process, and then destroying it one
second later:
void main()
{
int pid;
pid= start_process(check_sensor(2));
sleep(1.0);
kill_process(pid);
}
IC has two commands to help with process management. The commands only work when used at the IC command line. They are not C functions that can be used in code.
kill_all
ps
The following functions are implemented in the standard C library.
void hog_processor()
hog_processor(). Only a system reset will unwedge
from this state. Needless to say, this function should be used
with extreme care, and should not be placed in a loop, unless
wedging the machine is the desired outcome.
void defer()
defer()
is implemented as a C built-in function.
In addition to basic floating point arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) and floating point comparisons, a number of exponential and transcendental functions are built in to IC:
float sin(float angle)
angle. Angle is specified in
radians; result is in radians.
float cos(float angle)
angle. Angle is specified
in radians; result is in radians.
float tan(float angle)
angle. Angle is specified
in radians; result is in radians.
float atan(float angle)
angle. Angle is specified
in radians; result is in radians.
float sqrt(float num)
num.
float log10(float num)
num to the base 10.
float log(float num)
num.
float exp10(float num)
num power.
float exp(float num)
num power.
(float) a ^ (float) b
a to the b power.
IC has primitives for directly examining and modifying memory contents. These should be used with care as it is easy to corrupt memory and crash the system using these functions.
int peek(int loc)
loc.
int peekword(int loc)
loc
and loc+1. loc has the most significant
byte, as per the 6811 16-bit addressing standard.
void poke(int loc, int byte)
byte at memory address
loc.
void pokeword(int loc, int word)
word at memory addresses
loc and loc+1.
void bit_set(int loc, int mask)
mask at memory address
loc.
void bit_clear(int loc, int mask)
mask at memory address
loc.
There are two types of errors that can happen when working with IC: compile-time errors and run-time errors.
Compile-time errors occur during the compilation of the source file. They are indicative of mistakes in the C source code. Typical compile-time errors result from incorrect syntax or mis-matching of data types.
Run-time errors occur while a program is running on the board. They indicate problems with a valid C form when it is running. A simple example would be a divide-by-zero error. Another example might be running out of stack space, if a recursive procedure goes too deep in recursion.
These types of errors are handled differently, as is explained below.
When compiler errors occur, an error message is printed to the screen. All compile-time errors must be fixed before a file can be downloaded to the board.
When a run-time error occurs, an error message is displayed on the LCD screen indicating the error number. If the board is hooked up to IC when the error occurs, a more verbose error message is printed on the terminal.
Here is a list of the run-time error codes:
start_process()
With the use of a customized 6811 assembler program, IC allows the use of machine language programs within the C environment. There are two ways that machine language programs may be incorporated:
When operating as a function, the interface between C and a binary program is limited: a binary program must be given one integer as an argument, and will return an integer as its return value. However, programs in a binary file can declare any number of global integer variables in the C environment. Also, the binary program can use its argument as a pointer to a C data structure.
Special keywords in the source assembly language file (or module) are used to establish the following features of the binary program:
To explain how these features work, let's look at a sample IC binary source program:
/* Sample icb file */
/* origin for module and variables */
ORG MAIN_START
/* program to return twice the argument passed to us */
subroutine_double:
ASLD
RTS
/* declaration for the variable "foo" */
variable_foo:
FDB 55
/* program to set the C variable "foo" */
subroutine_set_foo:
STD variable_foo
RTS
/* program to retrieve the variable "foo" */
subroutine_get_foo:
LDD variable_foo
RTS
/* code that runs on reset conditions */
subroutine_initialize_module:
LDD #69
STD variable_foo
RTS
The first statement of the file ("ORG MAIN_START")
declares the start of the binary programs. This line must precede
the code itself itself.
The entry point for a program to be called from C is declared
with a special form beginning with the text subroutine_.
In this case, the name of the binary program is double,
so the label is named subroutine_double. As the comment
indicates, this is a program that will double the value of the
argument passed to it.
When the binary program is called from C, it is passed one integer argument. This argument is placed in the 6811's D register (also known as the "Double Accumulator") before the binary code is called.
The double program doubles the number in the D
register. The ASLD instruction ( "Arithmetic
Shift Left Double [Accumulator]") is equivalent to multiplying
by 2; hence this doubles the number in the D register.
The RTS instruction is "Return from Subroutine."
All binary programs must exit using this instruction. When a binary
program exits, the value in the D register is the return value
to C. Thus, the double program doubles its C argument
and returns it to C.
The label variable_foo is an example of a special
form to declare the name and location of a variable accessable
from C. The special label prefix "variable_"
is followed the name of the variable, in this case, "foo."
This label must be immediately followed by the statement FDB
<number>. This is an assembler directive that creates
a two-byte value (which is the initial value of the variable).
Variables used by binary programs must be declared in the binary file. These variables then become C globals when the binary file is loaded into C.
The next binary program in the file is named "set_foo."
It performs the action of setting the value of the variable foo,
which is defined later in the file. It does this by storing the
D register into the memory contents reserved for foo,
and then returning.
The next binary program is named "get_foo."
It loads the D register from the memory reserved for foo
and then returns.
The label subroutine_initialize_module is a special
form used to indicate the entry point for code that should be
run to initialize the binary programs. This code is run upon standard
reset conditions: program download, hardware reset, or running
of the main() function.
In the example shown, the initialization code stores the value
69 into the location reserved for the variable foo.
This then overwrites the 55 which would otherwise be the default
value for that variable.
Initialization of globals variables defined in an binary module
is done differently than globals defined in C. In a binary module,
the globals are initialized to the value declared by the FDB
statement only when the code is downloaded to the 6811 board (not
upon reset or running of main, like normal globals).
However, the initialization routine is run upon standard reset conditions, and can be used to initialize globals, as this example has illustrated.
Interrupt-driven binary programs use the initialization sequence of the binary module to install a piece of code into the interrupt structure of the 6811.
The 6811 has a number of different interrupts, mostly dealing with its on-chip hardware such as timers and counters. One of these interrupts is used by the 6.270 software to implement time-keeping and other periodic functions (such as LCD screen management). This interrupt, dubbed the "System Interrupt," runs at 1000 Hertz.
Instead of using another 6811 interrupt to run user binary programs, additional programs (that need to run at 1000 Hz. or less) may install themselves into the System Interrupt. User programs would be then become part of the 1000 Hz interrupt sequence.
This is accomplished by having the user program "intercept" the original 6811 interrupt vector that points to 6.270 interrupt code. This vector is made to point at the user program. When user program finishes, it jumps to the start of the 6.270 interrupt code.
The top picture depicts the interrupt structure before user program installation. The 6811 vector location points to system software code, which terminates in a "return from interrupt" instruction.
The bottom picture illustrates the result after the user program is installed. The 6811 vector points to the user program, which exits by jumping to the system software driver. This driver exits as before, with the RTI instruction.
Multiple user programs could be installed in this fashion. Each one would install itself ahead of the previous one. Some standard 6.270 library functions, such as the shaft encoder software, is implemented in this fashion.
* icb file: "sysibeep.asm"
*
* example of code installing itself into
* SystemInt 1000 Hz interrupt
*
* Fred Martin
* Thu Oct 10 21:12:13 1991
*
#include <6811regs.asm>
ORG MAIN_START
subroutine_initialize_module:
#include <ldxibase.asm>
* X now has base pointer to interrupt vectors ($FF00 or $BF00)
* get current vector; poke such that when we finish, we go there
LDD TOC4INT,X ; SystemInt on TOC4
STD interrupt_code_exit+1
* install ourself as new vector
LDD #interrupt_code_start
STD TOC4INT,X
RTS
* interrupt program begins here
interrupt_code_start:
* frob the beeper every time called
LDAA PORTA
EORA #%00001000 ; beeper bit
STAA PORTA
interrupt_code_exit:
JMP $0000 ; this value poked in by init routine
The above program installs itself into the System Interrupt. This program toggles the signal line controlling the piezo beeper every time it is run; since the System Interrupt runs at 1000 Hz., this program will create a continous tone of 500 Hz.
The first line after the comment header includes a file named
" 6811regs.asm". This file contains equates
for all 6811 registers and interrupt vectors; most binary programs
will need at least a few of these. It is simplest to keep them
all in one file that can be easily included. (This and other files
included by the as11 assembler are located in the
assembler's default library directory, which is /mit/6.270/lib/as11/
on the MIT Athena system.)
The subroutine_initialize_module declaration begins
the initialization portion of the program. The file "
ldxibase.asm" is then included. This file contains
a few lines of 6811 assembler code that perform the function of
determining the base pointer to the 6811 interrupt vector area,
and loading this pointer into the 6811 X register.
The following four lines of code install the interrupt program
(beginning with the label interrupt_code_start) according
to the method described above.
First, the existing interrupt pointer is fetched. As indicated by the comment, the 6811's TOC4 timer is used to implement the System Interrupt. The vector is poked into the JMP instruction that will conclude the interrupt code itself.
Next, the 6811 interrupt pointer is replaced with a pointer to the new code. These two steps complete the initialization sequence.
The actual interrupt code is quite short. It toggles bit 3 of the 6811's PORTA register. The PORTA register controls the eight pins of Port A that connect to external hardware; bit 3 is connected to the piezo beeper.
The interrupt code exits with a jump instruction. The argument for this jump is poked in by the initialization program.
The method allows any number of programs located in separate files to attach themselves to the System Interrupt. Because these files can be loaded from the C environment, this system affords maximal flexibility to the user, with small overhead in terms of code efficiency.
The source file for a binary program must be named with the
.asm suffix. Once the .asm file is created,
a special version of the 6811 assembler program is used to construct
the binary object code. This program creates a file containing
the assembled machine code plus label definitions of entry points
and C variables.
S116802005390037FD802239FC802239CC0045FD8022393C S9030000FC S116872B05390037FD872D39FC872D39CC0045FD872D39F4 S9030000FC 6811 assembler version 2.1 10-Aug-91 please send bugs to Randy Sargent (rsargent@athena.mit.edu) original program by Motorola. subroutine_double 872b *0007 subroutine_get_foo 8733 *0021 subroutine_initialize_module 8737 *0026 subroutine_set_foo 872f *0016 variable_foo 872d *0012 0017 0022 0028
The program as11_ic is used to assemble the source
code and create a binary object file. It is given the filename
of the source file as an argument. The resulting object file is
automatically given the suffix .icb (for IC Binary).
The binary object file that is created from the testicb.asm
example file is shown above. Currently, as11_ic runs
only under UNIX; if you need to create .icb files
from another platform, you can use our ICB Assembler server on
the World Wide Web (http://www.newtonlabs.com/ic/icb.html)
.
Once the .icb file is created, it can be loaded
into IC just like any other C file. If there are C functions that
are to be used in conjunction with the binary programs, it is
customary to put them into a file with the same name as the .icb
file, and then use a .lis file to loads the two files
together.
A pointer to an array is a 16-bit integer address. To coerce an array pointer to an integer, use the following form:
array_ptr= (int) array;
where array_ptr is an integer and array
is an array.
When compiling code that performs this type of pointer conversion, IC must be used in a special mode. Normally, IC does not allow certain types of pointer manipulation. To compile this type of code, use the following invokation:
ic -wizard
Arrays are internally represented with a two-byte length value followed by the array contents.
This section explains how IC deals with multiple source files.
All files containing C code must be named with the ".c"
suffix.
Loading functions from more than one C file can be done by
issuing commands at the IC prompt to load each of the files. For
example, to load the C files named foo.c and bar.c:
C> load foo.c C> load bar.c
Alternatively, the files could be loaded with a single command:
C> load foo.c bar.c
If the program is separated into multiple files that are always
loaded together, a "list file" may be created. This
file tells IC to load a set of named files. Continuing the previous
example, a file called gnu.lis can be created containing
the following lines.:
foo.c bar.c
Then typing the command load gnu.lis from the
C prompt would cause both foo.c and bar.c
to be loaded.
When files are loaded into IC, they stay loaded until they are explicitly unloaded. If one of the program files is being worked on, the other ones will remain in memory so that they don't have to be explicitly re-loaded each time the one undergoing development is reloaded.
However, suppose the file foo.c is loaded, which
contains a definition for the function main. Then
the file bar.c is loaded, which happens to also contain
a definition for main. There will be an error message,
because both files contain a main. IC will unload
bar.c, due to the error, and re-download foo.c
and any other files that are presently loaded.
The solution is to first unload the file containing the main
that is not desired, and then load the file that contains the
new main:
C> unload foo.c C> load bar.c
IC has a multitude of command-line switches that allow control
of a number of things. Explanations for these switches can be
gotten by issuing the command "ic -help".
IC stores the search path for and name of the library files
internally; theses may be changed by executing the command "ic
-config". When this command is run, IC will prompt
for a new path and library file name, and will create a new executable
copy of itself with these changes.
The ic -config command is also used to set your
license key and name when first running IC.
This document was generated on 21 April 1997 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.