Smart Mining Turtle

Hello everyone, I had a crazy idea for a turtle program today, but I need a tip.

First of all I haven't started writting the program, but i'll make it store variables on movement.
Something like this: if turtle.Up() then y + 1
and use that information to check if has enough fuel to go back
if y + x == turtle.getFuelLevel() then
–go back or something
else
–code

I need a tip, like I said, can I make it read a command while in a while true loop?


Let's say I want to get the number of block it's travelled by using print(y.. "and" ..x) but only when I type something like "GreatShooter", is that possible?
Can't write it at the moment, server having problems

Running after turtles on the move and inputting stuff into them is really annoying, so im gonna assume you intend to input these while he's stationairy.
This means we can do this the most basic way possible

while true do
  local command = string.lower(read()) -- requests user input, stores the input as all lower case in the variable command
  if command == "print coords" then
	--print coordinates here
  elseif command == "something else" then
	--do something else
  end
end

The thing is, I don't want them to move on command, I want to make them work at all times and only give me the data when requested

So you intend to chase his ass down and input the command, or request it over rednet? If it's the former, i would suggest just having the info printed to the screem on the turtle at all times.

Basicly a debug in case of chunkloading problems

That dosen't really answer the question, do you want the information displyaed on the turtle, or remotely?

A "smart" mining turtle will typically use rednet to talk back to a stationary computer, feeding it information, such as location, how many inventory slots are free, progress on its task, remaining fuel, etc.. It would also receive commands from this stationary computer, such as "go here", "pause at surface", "do something else now", or "come back".

Long story short, the parallel API would be the way to go here - it allows you to run two functions side by side. This is only needed because both turtle movements and collection of user input rely on events, and each system will otherwise deny the other of its required events in order to operate itself (unless you go way, way out of your way to get them to co-operate) - the parallel API grants both functions a complete copy of the event queue to do as they like with, providing an easy way out.

-- Pre-declare some variables that can be accessed anywhere in the script.
local x,y,z,direction

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Perhaps call a GPS server here to work out where the turtle started off. --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Some movement functions.
local function forward()
	if turtle.forward() then
		-- Add to or subtract from your location variables, depending on facing.
		return true
	else
		return false
	end
end

-- ... and create more similar functions for other movements.

local function doTurtleWork()
	-- Code here to make the turtle do what you want.
	-- This code uses your pre-made moving functions instead of turtle.forward(), etc.
end

local function report()
	while true do
		-- Code here either waits for the user to type something,
		-- or for a rednet message, or whatnot.
		
		-- Gives replies based on your location variables or whatever.
	end
end

parallel.waitForAny(doTurtleWork, report)  -- Start both functions running side by side.
                                           -- Waits for either to finish.

I think the paralel API would do it, yes I want to chase his ass down in case of chunkloading problems. Thanks for the answers everyone.