The return of Arch Enemy no. 38

DOCUMENTATION.

Like this but PDF.

If ODOTS is to be successful it is a fact of the universe that 'self documenting code' and 'straightforward hardware' are not going to cut it. Not only is explicit recording of all code and components required but an explanation of the various interfaces in the project is also going to be needed to make sure the ODOTS makes sense to a prospective user/builder.

What am I looking for in the Documentation of the ODOTS?

1. Enough information for someone to build and use it from scratch.
2. Enough information for someone to poke around with the design.
3. Enough information for me to return to the design and still know what is going on.

If the ODOTS is to become community developed a solid baseline design is essential. Building extras is easier when the foundation is not made of sludge!

So you may notice that the ODOTS is not actually finished yet, so any documentation written cannot possibly be correct. This is true, there is currently a lull in the design work: I have finished the firmware and now need to move onto a basic making a basic PC based interface and putting together the final proof of concept hardware design. The interface will manage ODOTS checkpoint unit configuration and handle competitor information sorting and retrieving from cards. (I really don't intend to put much more than bare bones functionality into it.) Back to the original point, this lull provides the perfect opportunity to record work so far and tighten up some functionality definitions from random scribblings on my desk.

I have suffered defeat at the hands of Arch Enemy no. 38 before, each time the horror of having to look at your own work and find it indecipherable is enough to make you say 'next time, next time'. Incidentally the Enemy can strike within a single project, recently the Engineers Flat effort to make a custom Robot Wars Control PCB was derailed when we forgot to write down the sequence of resets required to successfully flash the micro controller we were using.

The good news is that there is nothing truly complicated (after development) about the ODOTS so the documentation has so far gone without a problem!