[Microbit-Python] Flat API

[Damien George]

I think what we came up with yesterday (a few levels of nesting,
descriptive but not overly verbose methods for everything) is a good
compromise and we should stick with it.

I think micro:bit code is going to be read *a lot* more than it is
written (even more so than normal "adult" code).  As such, it's better
to have clear and obvious naming.

I think kids will spend more time taking existing code and modifying
it, rather than writing from scratch.  So if they see something like
"microbit.pins.p0.write_digital(1)" then it's pretty obvious what they
should change to make it pin 1, or make it a 0 output (but could be
more obvious if it was pins.pin0).

The most important thing (as David said) is that we decide very soon
on something, something that's practical and works, so that tutorials
and demos can be written.

See https://www.microbit.co.uk/td/contents for the Touch Develop API.
Some things to note (some of these changed since I last looked):
- they have namespaces and some notion of object orientation
- they use analog_read_pin, digital_write_pin, etc.
- compass_heading is in the same namespace as acceleration (both are accessors)



On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 2:59 PM, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> WRT API discussions. I have photos of the whiteboard and what we
> verbally agreed.
>
> I'll write up and post later today.
>
> N.
>
> On 22/09/15 00:52, Alan wrote:
>>
>> Hi All!
>>
>> I had a great time with all of you at pycon UK and playing with the
>> microbit, thanks!
>>
>> On the way home I was thinking a lot about the API and the REPL and 11
>> year old kids. I had a bit of a thought that I wanted to try out - don't
>> shout and scream and hiss. I don't know how much you'll like it.
>>
>> Looking at the microbit module there's very few name clashes within it
>> so I wondered what it would be like if there was a version of it that
>> was almost completely flattened. Especially for using with the REPL.
>>
>> Here's my thinking - the hardware isn't going to change (is it?). It's
>> got 20 pins, it's only ever going to have 20 pins, 25 LEDs, 2 buttons
>> etc. So when you're in the REPL, wanting to see immediate results on the
>> hardware itself, and you're in such an small, embedded environment, do
>> you want to type:
>>
>>   microbit.pins.pin0.set_digital_value(1)
>>
>> or would you rather type
>>
>>   dpin0 = True  ?
>>
>>
>> Anyway, as a thought experiment, here's an idea of a flattened API. The
>> attributes with an "=" sign means you can assign to them.
>>
>>
>> ====8<====
>>
>>
>>
>> Attributes:
>>
>> dpin0 =
>> dpin1 =
>> .
>> .
>> dpin19 =
>> dpin20 =
>>
>>
>> apin0 =
>> apin1 =
>> .
>> .
>> apin19 =
>> apin20 =
>>
>> pins.analog_period =
>>
>> pixel[0,0] =
>> brightness =
>> display_mode =
>> image =
>>
>> button_a
>> button_b
>>
>> force_x    #accellerometer.get_x()
>> force_y
>> force_z
>>
>> heading
>>
>> compass_x
>> compass_y
>> compass_z
>>
>> compass.is_calibrated
>> compass.is_calibrating
>>
>> system_time
>>
>>
>> Methods:
>>
>> shift_left()
>> shift_right()
>> shift_up()
>> shift_down()
>>
>> write(...)      #display.print(...)
>> scroll(...)
>> animate(...)
>> clear()
>>
>> compass.calibrate()
>> compass.clear_calibration()
>>
>> i2c.read()
>> i2c.write(...)
>>
>> sleep(...)
>> random()
>>
>> reset()
>> panic()
>>
>>
>>
>> ====8<====
>>
>> My little program that scrolls through a message using the two buttons
>> then becomes:
>>
>>
>>
>> from flat_microbit import *
>>
>> message = "1234567890"
>> index = 0
>>
>> while True:
>>     if button_a:
>>         index = (index - 1) % 10
>>     elif button_b:
>>         index = (index + 1) % 10
>>
>>     write(message[index])
>>     sleep(50)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
>>
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>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
>>
>
>
>
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