John Hansen has been a fan of OSC for a very long time. He hung out in Hatrack River back when it lived on AOL and is member 41 of the current Hatrack River forums. His old JohnBinder at aol dot com email address, named after his rope-making character from the Alvin Maker universe, is not frequently checked these days but it still exists. His primary email address is afanofosc at comcast dot net. Over the years John has bought several books by OSC for other Hatrack River residents and he helped write the original Hatrack River forum rules. Back when Big Mouth Lion was the forum software used on the Hatrack River website he even wrote an offline forum reading and posting utility that some old-timers might remember. Writing software is what he does for a living so using those abilities to help other OSC fans was a natural outcome.

John is not just a fan and friend of OSC, however. He’s also what is known as an AFOL – an adult fan of LEGO. Back in early 2001 John started to enhance an abandoned open source software project called RCX Command Center which enabled kids and adults alike to easily write programs to control the LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX programmable brick. At LEGO’s request the project was renamed BRICX Command Center (BricxCC), with the new name being designed to reflect its original RCX roots as well as its expanded support for all types of LEGO programmable bricks. A few years later he took over the Not Quite C (NQC) programming language project as well. When LEGO began developing their next-generation LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics set called the NXT John was asked by LEGO to participate in a MINDSTORMS Users Panel (MUP) to help test beta releases of the hardware and software and to get a jump start on providing the LEGO robotics community with freely available, cross-platform third-party solutions for programming the new brick. His work with other members of the panel led to NeXT Byte Codes (NBC), an assembly language for the NXT brick, and Not eXactly C (NXC), a C-like programming language for the NXT. NXC is essentially NQC for the NXT. Following in the footsteps of NQC’s cross-platform support, the NBC compiler, which compiles both NBC programs and NXC programs, is available for Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows platforms and the open-source code can be compiled for FreeBSD and other platforms such as the Nokia Internet Tablets.

Now, after a lot of encouragement from family and friends, John is writing something other than software – he’s written a book too. Variant Press has recently published a book that John wrote titled LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Power Programming. NXT Power Programming (NPP) introduces the NXT brick hardware capabilities and provides detailed information about the standard NXT firmware (its operating system). The book explains the ins and outs of both NXC and NBC and it contains an in-depth look at the BricxCC features supporting the NXT brick. You’ll also find a description of several NXT-related utilities, many of which work on Linux and Mac OSX and other platforms in addition to Windows. NPP uses a versatile mobile robot platform called Versa and a set of modular attachments to show how to take full advantage of the basic and advanced sensor inputs and motor outputs available for the NXT. Throughout the book you’ll find detailed building instructions for robotic projects, produced using the freely available LEGO Digital Designer application, which guide you through the robot building process. The NBC and NXC programs that go along with these projects are presented in an easy to follow fashion, with clear and concise descriptions of each program’s operation. You’ll find powerful programs for playing Pong and Tic-Tac-Toe on the NXT as well as a simple Nxt-o-sketch toy. NPP’s stated goal is to turn its readers into NXT power programmers by providing knowledge about the NXT and the powerful programming languages that target its full range of features and capabilities. In his preface, John encourages each reader to experiment, ask questions, and share discoveries with others. That philosophy is a lot like what Scott Card follows in his novels. It fits well with that famous line from the Alvin Maker series about a maker being a part of what he makes. And while the bricks that come in LEGO sets aren’t made of crystal shaped by a maker’s hand they can be fit together to build amazing creations. The LEGO name comes from Danish words that mean play well. NXT Power Programming, John’s newest creation, will help you become a better part of what you make with the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and play very well with this educational toy.