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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 30 2012 @ 01:41 PM EDT |
Now we're going to make a motorboat (Android). We need to be able to steer it,
so we use the familiar steering wheel from cars. But there's no clutch or brake
pedal.
And Oracle is suing, saying that if we implemented the steering wheel, we had to
implement the brake pedal and clutch as well...
MSS2[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: argee on Wednesday, May 30 2012 @ 01:48 PM EDT |
I think the steering wheel is a hardware component and is
analogous to the ABI.
The API is more concerned about the overall scheme; ie,
aligning the wheels with the intended direction of travel.
This would seem obvious, but tracked vehicles, like tanks
and bulldozers do not steer this way, they instead use brakes
on one side or the other. That would also work with a
wheeled vehicle. In fact, it is a common way of steering
airplanes on the ground; ie, differential braking with a
castering nosewheel or tailwheel.
You could implement the steering API several ways; for
instance (as suggested) a stick or whiffletree, reins,
or a device that takes your brain electrical waves and
aligns the wheels.
What google has done here is to provide a method of
aligning the wheels, rather than deal with steering
wheels.
Steering wheels derive from ships, not control valves.
It is a method to provide more mechanical advantage.
A whiffletree or tiller only involves very limited
travel. A steering wheel's rim can move over many
yards for the same rudder movement, compared to a tiller.
The wheel can be connected to the rudder by a capstan
on the axle of the wheel; to the rudder via a chinese
capstan with vastly more mechanical advantage, or via
a power steering hydraulic valve or a combination of
both with engine provided hydraulic pressure.
In all of these cases, the API is the same: turn the
rudder! The ABI is the wheel, tiller, hydraulics, etc.
A different API could apply like when using twin propellers
with differential engine power to steer. Or moving the
direction of the propeller like on an outboard motor, or
having a sideways propeller in the front of the boat.
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argee[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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- Analogous to ABI - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 30 2012 @ 02:49 PM EDT
- Analogous to ABI - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 30 2012 @ 03:29 PM EDT
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