Basic but Flexible Remote Control

I had a hard time finding a simple, capable remote control program for a turtle, so I came up with this.

cldt = {}
function trply(mssgstr) -- i.e. "unbreakable block in path"
    print(mssgstr)
    if cldt.rcID then
    rednet.send(cldt.rcID,mssgstr) end
end

rednet.open("right")
print("Enter confirmation password")
cldt[1] = io.read()
print("Send password from control terminal")

repeat cldt[2], cldt[3] = rednet.receive() -- you can set a timeout value here, but I didn't
  if cldt[3] == cldt[1] then cldt.rcID = cldt[2] trply("password accepted") break end
until not cldt[2]
while cldt.rcID do cldt[2], cldt[3] = rednet.receive()
  if cldt[2] == cldt.rcID then
   if turtle[cldt[3]] then turtle[cldt[3]]()
   elseif cldt[3] == "trmn8RC" then cldt.rcID = nil end
  end
end
print("Remote Control Terminated")

Once a rednet message matching the password is received, the turtle will execute any turtle API command it receives from the ID that send the password. A corresponding controller program is useful but not necessary. What may be needed is to add additional functions (stored in a table named "turtle" for easy access) to provide additional functionality, since the program currently lacks a way to pass arguments to the functions it calls (which is why turtle.select() and such are not supported).

rcmdlst = {
[79] = "place",
[71] = "placeUp",
[82] = "placeDown",
[83] = "drop",
[210] = "place",
[211] = "dig",
[199] = "dropUp",
[207] = "dropDown",
[201] = "up",
[209] = "down",
[200] = "forward",
[208] = "back",
[203] = "turnLeft",
[205] = "turnRight",
[26] = "digUp",
[27] = "digDown",
[28] = "suck",
[51] = "suckUp",
[52] = "suckDown",
[45] = "trmn8RC",
}
cldt = {}
shell.run('clear')
print("Enter confirmation password for remote turtle control")
if not rednet.broadcast(io.read()) then print("Modem Access Error") return false
else cldt[1],cldt[2] = rednet.receive() print(cldt[1],cldt[2]) end
if cldt[2] == "password accepted" then
print("Use numberpad to control turtleID"..cldt[1]..[[
170 to place[Up/Down]
'.' Home End, to drop[Up/Down]
Enter, <, >, to suck[Up/Down]
Del, [, ] to dig [Up/Down]
Direction Keys and PgUp/Dn to move
Press x to end Remote Control]])
cldt[3] = false
repeat
  cldt[4],cldt[5],cldt[6] = os.pullEvent()
  if cldt[4] == "key" and rcmdlst[cldt[5]] then rednet.broadcast(rcmdlst[cldt[5]])
   if cldt[5] == 45 then cldt[3] = true end
  elseif cldt[4] == "rednet_message" then print(cldt[5]..": "..cldt[6]) end
until cldt[3]
else print("Remote Control confirmation failed") end

Maybe Paste Bin This But 1 Comment "AWESOME!"

Why not just use normal variable names? You gain nothing by removing vowels in the variable names..

I know I've explained this a few times before, but oh well. It's embarrassing, but when I use "meaningful" identifiers, I have trouble remembering what the code actually does. When I use an identifier that doesn't have a formal, predefined meaning, it's easier to remember only the code that assigns it value.

So I personally definitely do gain something by not using "normal" variable names.

robhol, on 07 November 2012 - 01:01 AM said:

Why not just use normal variable names? You gain nothing by removing vowels in the variable names..

who cares, that how he writes his programs…

Some people legitimately care, like when I post something in ask a pro. Of course, when I try to convert identifiers to be more meaningful, I'm always forgetting a few (precisely because after I see that I've named a variable after what it's supposed to do, it makes me forget to check what it actually does) and end up posting broken code. I also kinda suck at commenting code.

ChunLing, on 08 November 2012 - 07:15 PM said:

Some people legitimately care, like when I post something in ask a pro. Of course, when I try to convert identifiers to be more meaningful, I'm always forgetting a few (precisely because after I see that I've named a variable after what it's supposed to do, it makes me forget to check what it actually does) and end up posting broken code. I also kinda suck at commenting code.

Touché Touché!

That being said in general as a programmer you should strive for code that is termed "self-documenting"

Not doing this is fine if you don't intend anyone else to ever read your code but when you share it then people trying to decipher whats going on inherit a headache.

That being said I'm going to try and decipher what the heck is going on in here because i'm tryign to develop my own wireless mining turtle managment program and i need to learn the basics. So thank you :)/>.

Yeah, I just happen to suck at translating from one language to another. And I also get confused if there is vocabulary overlap with non-identical meanings (probably part of why I suck at translating). For me, once something is "readable" in lua I have real trouble expressing what it says in another language.

I'm that way with natural languages too. And there I usually don't have the extra problem of having to define my own terminology the way a programmer must.

By the way, the RC function in clfn is a good bit more refined and versatile, but it's embedded in a larger program so it might be harder to read?