how would one create a function that runs "in the background" continuously while other parts of the code excecute, such as to control power steering?

So, essentially, we could do the drive task, and then it would run the same as if you were doing it in the while loop?

I know that in the short term, it doesn't matter, but in the long run, which way would be more efficient?

You will need to make sure that you have a loop inside of your task, or else the code will execute once and then the task will end.

The other thing to remember is that you have to "free up" CPU time. Since the NXT doesn't actually have multiple processors, it shares the processor time. So if you start a new task and have it continuously loop, the rest of your code might not execute because that task will be using all of the processor time.

You can get around that issue by using wait1Msec commands throughout your new task (like at the end of a loop, have it wait 10ms before looping again)... when you use a wait1Msec command, it will free that task's CPU time to other tasks. Look at the joystick driver source code for an example and how the wait statements are used.

Our robot has about 8 threads running while loops at one time and the NXT handles it just fine.

hm...

So if i were to do something like

task drive()
{
while(true)
{
//Drive
}
}

task arm()
{

while (true)
{
// arm
}
}

task main()
{

StartTask(drive);
StartTask(arm);
}


The code would run just the same? Assuming we have all of the FMS stuff and junk.

It's probably not the best way to do it but we haven't had any problems using that way so far.

Yes. Make sure that each of your loops have a wait at the bottom like so:



That will ensure that all tasks get as much CPU as they want.
Note: Since both of your tasks rely on the joystick values I suggest reading them in the main task like so:



That means you will not need to poll the joysticks in your Drive() and Arm() tasks. You can simply refer to the joystick structure directly and know that it always has the most recent values.

Thanks !

i get these errors


this only happens for one function

never mind i fixed it, if you put one task inside task main you must only have tasks, or i did something wrong the first time, so i have used sunny's style of coding.