Male, female or Alien?

So, are there any among you who can explain to me how any programmable device (specifically Home-Minder), can execute a set of instructions (program code) in "all at once" mode. I understand the females or our species can process several things at the same time (I think we males refer to this as multitasking); however my ex informs me that this is not "all at once", just micro bursts of sequential processing with a complex interrupt and loopback structure - sorry ladies, meant with good intent!

Unless there is some unique processing hardware of which I am totally unaware, or "all at once" has another meaning of which I am also unaware, everything must be processed sequentially - otherwise it is not happening. Even chaos is sequential! - though there are times it appears to be happening all at once

My quest is to gain enlightment into the program structure of the Home-minder so that I may write better, more effective and efficient code. Is the Home-Minder male, female or alien?

 

Mate you gonna have us both banned for this! With the programming of this beast the all at once thing has had me baffled too, because I don't understand how and I've worked with processors down at a low level (like many here I guess). But I guess ultimatly what we write gets compiled into the machine code that the unit processes, so I guess the smarts are in the compiling that takes place. For us I guess we just need to accept it as the way of life. I'v worked it out ok, but the only thing that still has me is where you have two lines that use the same comparison to do different things, which one does it choose? Is it luck or is there some method to it, my guess is internaly it is sequntal, but its just which ever one it checks first. But hey again it means we should be aware and not write code that does that.

 

we can't be banned mate, were customers (in a manner of speaking)! My point exactly and it is the 'internals' that I wish to know about. If it we cannot predict or otherwise logically determine what (when) code is executed then we are not programming it, we are giving it a list and saying do what you like when you want to! Do I have a point? - after all, what is programming if not an explicit set of predicitable commands?

 

Yep you do have a point, I would love to know how it works. But I think your right though, all we are doing is giving a program a list of things to do, and it is that program (running on our PC's and not in Minder) that works out what to do. I guess all we need to know what the rules are and not break them.

 

Ashley,
seems no one wants to comment on this thread - maybe no one knows? This is not encouraging is it? Hope we are not the only people in the group who have ever wondered about this? Should I go further to the point do you think?

 

I have never played with Minder to know exactly what technology it uses.
However the "all at once mode" does make sense to me.
15 years ago I was playing with some devices called (I think) Large Scale Programmable Logic Controllers. What these devices were was a massive number of interlocked logic gates that could be configured into any larger type of logic gate or series of logic gates.

Effectively what you did was program (with the aid of software), the logic function or series of logic functions you wanted to achieve, this could include timers, I/O latches etc. The software then worked out the true tables and then disabled (by programmable fuses) any logic gates not needed and voila you had a custom made IC specific to your function. The software interface removed all the mind-boggling detail of what was actually inside the IC so that you did not need an expert to design LSI chips. (The devices I was playing with had 40 independent tri-stable I/O pins and that was just the interface to the outside world.)

You could remove a whole circuit board of discreet devices and still pack more functions into those babies. These devices were logic engines rather than sequential logic as in micro-controllers. It is quite possible to split the IC into different functions so different I/O logic circuits worked independently of each other and so, were capable of being actioned "all at once".
Once you had perfected your design you could then send your design back to the manufacturer whom could then custom manufacture at the "silicon dice" stage, your IC. They used the map the software devised as a mask.
You had only one chance to get it right back then. I would imagine that today they have them so they are re-programmable. I think that they would be highly suited to alarm and monitoring functions so I would not be surprised to find that?s what is used. That was 15 years ago, I would also not be surprised t find that they had a small micro-controller as well as independent logic interface now days.
Hope this helps!

Colin Smith

 

Now I see

Thanks Colin,
I always wondered how that type of logic worked.
Tony

 

Colin

Good point, I also remember those devices back in the days when I was playing with intel CMos Microcontrollers (80C51, 8096 etc). In those days, yes, they were designed as an LSI multifunction logic gate, designed to be 'burnt' for a specific task. Cash registers etc used to use them and I believe I have seen them used as keyboard decoders and display drivers for cash registers also.

With the advent of technology, such a complex chip would certianly be possible, although I would question it's choice as being appropriate as opposed to a microcontroller for such an application as indicated in the thread.

It would certianly explain the labourious programming of repeating the input sequence, the inability to provide multiple output from one set of input logic, the need to 'turn on' and the need to 'turn it off' again. It would also explain why the condition of things like the 'flash' command always return true even if the flash is in the off cycle.

I need to digest your suggestion.

thanks.

 

more to think about

The scenario language you use is Minder specific -- it isn't like any particular programming language. It is designed specifically for the purpose of automation and therefore most other languages are not going to be even similar.How this is done internally, it's all written in C++, but all that stuff is proprietary. The INI file is stored in a coded (not encrypted) format that was designed just to make it easy for the GUI to read in the scenario, in a standard format.