Maximum LEGO NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 524 pages
• Publisher: Variant Press; 2nd edition
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0973864958
• ISBN-13: 978-0973864953
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,029,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not ready for publication!, July 5, 2007

By 

Toaster (Tucson, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains (Paperback)

This book was published before it was ready. There are numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, missing steps, incorrect file names, vague references, poorly written instructions and aggrivating projects that just plain don't work or suddenly leave you in the dark

This book has many good ideas and interesting topics BUT...

NOT FOR THE NEW JAVA PROGRAMMER

Even intermediate would be pushing it.

Right from the beginning nothing works as the book describes:
- LEJOS installation instructions are wildly incorrect
- Developer environment installation and setup instructions are missing critical steps
- Critical explanations and critical steps are missing throughout
- Explanations will suddenly jump from explaining the basics to saying things like "Now download your favorite free chess program and hack it to control your chess playing robotic arm." -- Uh....okay..
- Bluetooth set-up and operation does not work as described and steps are again - missing.
- If you can't get bluetooth working, you can't do some of the projects and here again the technical level jumps from very basic to expert.
- Programs can only be run ONCE then must be downloaded again to run them again.

I'm sorely disappointed.
The LEJOS project has a LOT of great potential and I will return to it at a future date but as it currently stands this book has left a very sour taste in my mouth.
Publishing this book should have waited at least until book and product match up.
It needed a lot more proof reading.
Releasing the book in its current state only damages any LEJOS following that it could have inspired and damages the readers trust in the reputation of an author that is intelligent and very knowledgeable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, April 28, 2008

By 

Aaron P. Fletcher "Fletcher_ap" (Tulsa, Ok) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains (Paperback)

Despite the nasty reviews surrounding this book, I strongly dis-agree. I thought this book was extremely helpful. I am a java programmer but my work is in the data integration area. This book really helped me to step out of the box and start programming movement between motors,sensors,etc. I enjoy all of Brian's writings, blogs, books, etc. You won't find a better book about programming NXT bricks with Java. And who expects a 12 year old to pick up this book and understand? It's a book most suitable for experienced java programmers.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good mindstorms book for those who know or want to know Java, May 23, 2007

By 

fido - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains (Paperback)

Received a few days ago, still getting through it. This book seems to be for people with at least some familiarity with Java.

Pros: Reasonable instructions for building a bunch of different robots, a long with some 'patterns' that can be used for your own creations; Full software listings of Java programs to control robots; seems well written with an easy to read style.

Cons: Construction plans not colour, making it difficult to follow at times; discussion of Java programs not necessarily as thorough as could be; Java discussion in general seems a bit thin; Java set up instructions seem a little glossed over.

Conclusion: It seems that this book is pitched at someone who knows at least a little bit of Java, or at the very least wants to learn about Java, and also wants to get into mindstorms. Since that pretty much sums me up, I think it is worth it's weight in gold. For those who are not familiar with Java, I think this book will still be a useful addition to the mindstorms library, however there may be better alternatives. As a Lego Mindstorms Java book for Java developers, it gets *6* stars, but as a pure Mindstorms book for those with little Java skills, I can see it could easily get knocked down to 3 or 4 stars.

Finally, not to put too fine a point on it, this book is about a hojillion times better than "LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide", as this book actually gives some practical building instructions along with code to do some fairly cool stuff.