Powered Up reference book wot I have writ

[idlemarvel]

I wasn't quite sure which forum to put this in, but this seemed to be the most appropriate.

I have written a reference book of information about LEGO Powered Up and the LEGO Powered Up app programming environment. It's probably about 4 years too late, and IMO is something that Lego should have provided from the start, but as I could not find anything I thought I would write one. I realise that books, even e-books, are a bit passé but sometimes I find it useful to have everything in one place. 

The book covers the hardware and all the possible uses of the remote controller, but most of the book is about the Powered Up app. Anyone who has used Powered Up for a while will probably have worked out most of the content of this book for themselves, but if you are new I think this will help. Part of the content is an up to date reference list of all the programming blocks, and a how to guide for creating controllers and writing code, including the use of composite blocks. There is also a "behind the scenes" section where I delve into the file system and show how to choose a different background for your controller, and how to add Lego provided widgets.

To give you a better idea, here is the list of contents. There's 145 pages but that includes lots of screen shots.

• Introduction to Powered Up 
• Powered Up Hardware 
• Using Powered Up 
• Powered Up App 
• Creating a Project 
• Controller Design 
• Coding Principles
• How to Code
• Coding Examples 
• Behind the Scenes 
• Coding Reference
• Beyond the Powered Up App

If this is of any interest you can download the PDF version of the book for free.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtdZ1WlGIgX0CnWeN6JODX6r0i_gZte1/view

I would welcome any comments and corrections of which I'm sure there will be many.

Thanks for reading this far, Dave

Edited March 18 by idlemarvel
update to PDF

[Jurss]

Thank You for the effort!

[2GodBDGlory]

Wow, that looks like it must have been a lot of work! Thanks for sharing!

[chip1e]

Hi Dave thank you for this at 74 I am still learning, thank you for your work.

Paul.

[kbalage]

Wow, it's a great effort, well done!

[idlemarvel]

19 hours ago, Jurss said:

Thank You for the effort!

Thanks

18 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Wow, that looks like it must have been a lot of work! Thanks for sharing!

Surprisingly it only took me about 2 months - started on 19 Jan 2024 - but I am retired so I have more time on my hands than I used to! 

17 hours ago, chip1e said:

Hi Dave thank you for this at 74 I am still learning, thank you for your work.

Paul.

I am approaching 70 and I am still learning Paul and long may it continue.

15 hours ago, kbalage said:

Wow, it's a great effort, well done!

Thanks Balazs

[Lego Tom]

Nicely done! Thanks for posting. It may be 'dated' but it's welcome information for those of us who missed that LEGO era and are trying to catch up.

[Toastie]

Wow!!! I am simply stunned. Just turned every page of your document ...

21 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

IMO is something that Lego should have provided from the start

Absolutely true! I bet that the level of acceptance of PoweredUp as operating and/or programming environment would have gone through the roof instead of being regarded as too complicated, wishy-washy, unreliable, garbage (just browse this forum) ... as far as I am concerned any such rather complex (and at that time new) environment is just as good as documentation is. Yes, one can "find out" this and that and finally everything - you have more than proven that it works - but generally, people don't have as much passion and skills as you have! I truly believe that TLG massively screwed-up on this one: Proper documentation.

To be clear: Your absolutely fantastic work is not outdated at all. It appears to me as if TLG simply cranked out a (really nice!) programmable hardware product line that was in some sort of decent state, hardware- and firmware-wise, that is. The LWP3.0 document they threw onto GitHub (lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs), is still "almost" up-to date ... after >6< years of not being touched at all!

But application-wise (the most time-consuming thing in every hard/software development project released to the public or a broader audience) they simply utterly screwed-up. Yes, have read it here and there, small number of people involved, and so on and so forth - same thing as so often seen in other companies as well. And in addition, new software items were added, updated and so on - but still no documentation. As it stands now, PoweredUp is a fully blown programming language with visual IDE and all bells and whistles, as your source code listings clearly show. And still no TLG documentation. 

Now, after 6 years, we finally have an up-to date, complete, very nicely composed and structured documentation of how programming within the PoweredUp world works. With all the essential - or better, crucial - information in one place. How to pair, advanced pairing, meaning of the colors - even this must be so frustrating for many people not wanting to take a long time to figure it out by trial and error. Your programming examples are excellent choices. Your listing of the (now) almost countless instructions is a marvel. The further information you provide finally explains why this and that was/is behaving in that and this way ... I am really very excited about this document.

In conclusion: TLG should compensate you with a LOT of money - as the time you spent on this plus your excellent work is what they essentially just saved in expenses. Plus, I bet their version of documentation would not even come close to what you have accomplished.

Thank you very, very much for sharing this document!

With very best regards,
Thorsten     

1 hour ago, Lego Tom said:

for those of us who missed that LEGO era

Oh no - did I miss something here? PoweredUp is still an active program, isn't it? Or did they already suggest some "retiring soon" dates???

Hopefully not - I love PUp. Programming it with 3rd party software, that is.

Best,
Thorsten

 

[idlemarvel]

1 hour ago, Lego Tom said:

Nicely done! Thanks for posting. It may be 'dated' but it's welcome information for those of us who missed that LEGO era and are trying to catch up.

Thanks. Maybe "late" rather than "dated"   AFAIK it is still current technology.

29 minutes ago, Toastie said:

Wow!!! I am simply stunned. Just turned every page of your document ...

Best,
Thorsten

Wow to your feedback! Thanks Thorsten for your very kind words. I'd be very happy for Lego to take this on (and even compensate me!) although that is not why I did it. As you say it is nearly always the case that software documentation is the last thing to be considered and the first thing to be cut if money or resources are tight. It is false economy in my book but we're swimming against the tide there.

As you say first time users can find it very frustrating - I know I did. The mantra of "learning through playing" is all very well but at the end of the day you need something to refer to as many things are not as intuitive as the developers believe they are! I have the basics covered now I think but if you or anyone else can suggest topics that could be added please let me know. 

My intention is to have this made into a paperback book with Kindle (Amazon) Direct Publishing which explains the odd page size I used (14 cm x 21.6 cm) rather than the usual A4. In the meantime any more feedback would be most welcome.

Dave

[aeh5040]

This looks extremely useful! Thanks for putting in all this work.

[shroomzofdoom]

Wow, truly remarkable effort! Lego should send you a check for your efforts!

[HectorMB]

That's truly amazing!!! Many thanks for the huge effort and for sharing with the community. It does speak very well from you. 

[Lego Tom]

20 hours ago, Toastie said:

Oh no - did I miss something here? PoweredUp is still an active program, isn't it? Or did they already suggest some "retiring soon" dates???

Hopefully not - I love PUp. Programming it with 3rd party software, that is.

Best,
Thorsten

 

PUp is certainly still active but LEGO has been pushing Control+ and I'm not sure (though I haven't been paying attention) if there has been anything recent for PoweredUp, plus I seem to recall rumors of something new coming from LEGO, including motors and power sources. I just got the impression that LEGO is moving in a different direction.

[Lok24]

4 minutes ago, Lego Tom said:

PUp is certainly still active but LEGO has been pushing Control+ and I'm not sure (though I haven't been paying attention) if there has been anything recent for PoweredUp, plus I seem to recall rumors of something new coming from LEGO, including motors and power sources.

What is PU (according to TLG):
It's the combination of unique connector an the LEGO Wireless Protocol 3.0.00 / BLE

What is Control+:
It is only one single App (among many others)
It is  not any "system".

 

14 minutes ago, Lego Tom said:

something new coming from LEGO, including motors and power sources.

Why not? But they may use the same connectors and protocol.

 

@idlemarvel

This is really a remarkable work, thanks a lot!

[idlemarvel]

16 hours ago, aeh5040 said:

This looks extremely useful! Thanks for putting in all this work.

 

5 hours ago, shroomzofdoom said:

Wow, truly remarkable effort! Lego should send you a check for your efforts!

 

1 hour ago, HectorMB said:

That's truly amazing!!! Many thanks for the huge effort and for sharing with the community. It does speak very well from you. 

Thanks all of you. It makes it even more worthwhile to me.

As for any payment from Lego I won't hold my breath!

[Celeri]

Very nice and thorough document, I am sure many people will find it useful, and I think it should definitlely be promoted somehow on the front page of EB!

Thanks a lot for the effort and for sharing its results!

[idlemarvel]

35 minutes ago, Lok24 said:

What is PU (according to TLG):
It's the combination of unique connector an the LEGO Wireless Protocol 3.0.00 / BLE

What is Control+:
It is only one single App (among many others)
It is  not any "system".

 

Why not? But they may use the same connectors and protocol.

 

@idlemarvel

This is really a remarkable work, thanks a lot!

Thanks @Lok24

I agree with your position BTW, Control+ is just one app that uses PU aimed at Technic models.

7 minutes ago, Celeri said:

Very nice and thorough document, I am sure many people will find it useful, and I think it should definitlely be promoted somehow on the front page of EB!

Thanks a lot for the effort and for sharing its results!

Thanks @Celeri

It seems to have got a favourable reception for which I am most grateful.

Whether the whole EB community would be interested I don't know, I'll let others decide that. This forum and Train Tech certainly. I am working on a few updates based on feedback so far. Maybe the mods could consider pinning a new post with the most up to date version in it, and keep this thread for discussion and feedback?

[Toastie]

55 minutes ago, idlemarvel said:

could consider pinning a new post with the most up to date version in it, and keep this thread for discussion and feedback?

Hi Dave, @Milan, @JopieK,

that is a very good idea! Way better than frontpaging (which would be of course also "nice" but by far not as sustainable ;)

All the best,
Thorsten

 

[Milan]

4 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

Maybe the mods could consider pinning a new post with the most up to date version in it, and keep this thread for discussion and feedback?

3 hours ago, Toastie said:

that is a very good idea! Way better than frontpaging (which would be of course also "nice" but by far not as sustainable ;)

We are working on creating a few changes in the structure in the Technic forum, and I will make sure to include this, too.
We have also considered frontpaging, but we do need to have a striking promo image of what we frontpage. I tried screenshoting one from the PDF, but couldn't find one encapsulating the essence.

 

[onzenuub]

Thanks for this

[Tobi Wankenobi]

Thank you!

[idlemarvel]

5 hours ago, Milan said:

We are working on creating a few changes in the structure in the Technic forum, and I will make sure to include this, too.
We have also considered frontpaging, but we do need to have a striking promo image of what we frontpage. I tried screenshoting one from the PDF, but couldn't find one encapsulating the essence.

 

Thanks @Milan

I can't immediately think of a picture that would encapsulate the book. I can get a screen grab of the proposed book cover if that would help?

EDIT: see below

Edited March 15 by idlemarvel

[Toastie]

9 hours ago, Milan said:

We are working on creating a few changes in the structure in the Technic forum, and I will make sure to include this, too.
We have also considered frontpaging, but we do need to have a striking promo image of what we frontpage.

That sounds very exciting! Thank you for all your efforts!

Once again: The "frontpage" disappears in no time - pinned topics remain accessible for a long time - well as long as they are pinned. Yes, I do see the honor when folks/themes/topics are frontpaged!!! On another thought: Who really cares about a striking promo image when it comes to using PoweredUp? Just put a bold

THE ULTIMATE POWERED UP GUIDE
YOU
HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE IT WAS INTRODUCED
For bloody beginners to total programming nerds.
- advanced pairing - the meaning of the hub's LED colors -
- THE guide to all programming blocks -
- and how to meaningful connect them to power your MOCs at another level of control -
YOU WILL BE AMAZED

text only frontpage - it certainly will catch attentions, I am sure. After all, people here on EB can read. Maybe choose a nifty font or cool colors, but I believe b/w using Arial is much better ...

But that is my opinion only of course!

Best,
Thorsten 

Edited March 15 by Toastie

[idlemarvel]

I'm going to sign you up as my publicist! 

[Toastie]

32 minutes ago, idlemarvel said:

I'm going to sign you up as my publicist!

I'll do it

Spoiler

 

Maybe I did too many Blues Brothers stunts with good friends on weddings etc. ... "Tonight only ..." you certainly know the story - we used to have posters at the entrance ... OK, that was when I was young(er) - was fun though. My role was Elwood ...
https://www.pinterest.de/pin/603904631257470230/
but these folks knew how to come up with stuff quickly and - were very successful even without striking promo posters.

 

Best,
Thorsten

Edited March 15 by Toastie