Adaptors: Adding a "Board" interface

[Jay Newman]

I realize that adaptors for each platform have to be different because each platform is different. However, there is a common set of functionality that would be nice to have abstracted out from the rest of the adapter.

As I see it, each adapter consists of  "protocol" functions to communicate with the platform, and "board" functions which activate low-level hardware features. I think that the "board" functions have more in common than not and should be abstracted into a "Board' interface. The firmata_adaptor already does this:

     

type firmataBoard interface {
      Connect(io.ReadWriteCloser) error


      Disconnect() error


      Pins() []client.Pin


      AnalogWrite(int, int) error


      SetPinMode(int, int) error


      ReportAnalog(int, int) error


      ReportDigital(int, int) error


      DigitalWrite(int, int) error


      I2cRead(int, int) error


      I2cWrite(int, []byte) error


      I2cConfig(int) error


      ServoConfig(int, int, int) error


      WriteSysex(data []byte) error


      gobot.Eventer

}

I think that this interface is a good start, though I would add access to SPI because most boards have access to SPI. I would also remove "ServoConfig" and put all the functions to control Servos into a separate interface, because servos are controlled by firmware rather than built-in functionality. Also, there are different types of sevos, including hobby servos (which are becoming more and more powerful all the time), the Robotis servos, and various other kinds of home-built servos, all of which share a lot of functionality.

I hope I did the right thing with the code sample. Please correct me if I was wrong.     

[Ron Evans]

Sorry for the delayed response, but I just noticed this message.

There are already a number of interfaces defined in Gobot, which are then implemented by any Adaptors that are able to do so.

Some examples:

https://github.com/hybridgroup/gobot/blob/master/drivers/i2c/i2c.go#L29

https://github.com/hybridgroup/gobot/blob/master/drivers/spi/spi.go#L21

I think this is what you were possibly looking for.

Hope that helps!