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Sketching in Hardware 2013: Physical Computing with JavaScript

fustini

I have attached slides from Jason Kridner's Physical Computing with JavaScript presentation at Sketching in Hardware 2013 (http://sketching-in-hardware.com/).

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imageJason Kridner - Physical Computing with JavaScript.pdf
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  • Great slides!

    Initially in the past I had been confused, because since Javascript runs on the browser, (and I hadn't heard of Node.js) I was a little confused and had thought that I'd need a browser opened on the BBB to make use of bonescript, so I'd ignored it all.

    Now it's much clearer that this is the Javascript engine, but doesn't need a browser to run in. It's very cool, since Javascript is a fairly friendly language (in the past, for what little I've done, I've relied on javascript libraries heavily to make sure that it works consistently across browsers, but I'm sure that has changed now - or at least is a non-issue in this case, since there is only one Node.js engine).

    It's also extremely powerful  that you can use other existing js libraries! That sounds pretty amazing. I can't wait to try that out. And create http based UIs without needing Apache and PHP.

    Possibly this can all be done with Python too (I don't know) but I'm convinced js+bonescript is worth paying a lot of attention to, to rapidly develop applications - and in a language that is literally designed for the web, so lots of knowledge reuse for those who will one day want to create web apps.

    The ideal scenario for some apps could be PRU<->C/C++ and then IPC with Node.js javascript (and bonescript for any direct hw control) for the http based UI.

    Also, I wonder how performance compares with a typical desktop browser running JS.

  • in reply to shabaz

    shabaz wrote:

                           

    since Javascript runs on the browser, (and I hadn't heard of Node.js) I was a little confused and had thought that I'd need a browser opened on the BBB to make use of bonescript, so I'd ignored it all.

    Lua and server-side Javascript are the new BASIC. image

  • in reply to morgaine

    I've heard lots of good things about LUA over the past few years, how fast, compact and convenient it is. I'm looking forward to trying it sometime!

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  • in reply to shabaz

    Extremely low barrier to entry and only one composite type, so an hour after flipping through its description you can be fully productive by jumping off from past programming experience.  Lua really and truly is a "KISS" language, and that helps its embeddability by keeping things small and simple.  I guess that's why so many engineers like it.  It's designed for this niche.

     

    "The new BASIC" is a really good metaphor for Lua. image

     

    PS. Naturally available in ARM Debian, but also in Angstrom which highlights how pervasive it is. (Lua 5.2 is in Debian, but only up to 5.1 in Angstrom --- that's fine though.  Lua is long-term stable, there is no upgrade treadmill.)