Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

Ahh, but if only people did write their own drivers instead of writing software on top of heap of software, with more software to talk to the other software where you could have just written a more efficient routine to work straight with the device Windows might run more like Mac speed... or better yet, Windows Vista might run at Windows XP speed... :P

Also, if you're plannning on entering software as a field, people don't hire you for having great concepts for solving a problem that remains abstracted from the hardware on a piece of paper or on a blackboard. They hire you because you write the fastest way to solve the problem, and espeicially in the field of moble devices that's what gives you the little edge over your competition... the ability to comprehend the hardware running your code. I realize that we're talking FRC here not real life... but again... FIRST is supposed to prepare you for real life.

-q

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

By "fastest way to solve the problem", do you mean time-to-market or # of CPU clock cycles? Those are VERY different goals.

Actually, I would imagine that many mobile device designers care much more about time-to-market given their typical development cycles.

Speaking from my own experience, engineering is often about understanding the tradeoffs between different approaches. I think that having 2 options available - easyC and C - is an important part of the FIRST "education".

Russ

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

I agree. Not everyone is going to be happy with EasyC and how it limits great coders.

I am a part time programmer at best. I do the project management and the autonomous mode for our team. I can help the team with EasyC since it takes away having to remember all the particulars of MPLAB. I have programmed in MPLAB but it was difficult for me being a part timer.

I feel EasyC has much growth yet, it frustrates me how it does libraries and other useful items. But it does deliver for us and allows the volunteers coming in to catch on quickly. So I think it is great we have at least two good options.

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

This is a serious bit of wisdom that every student should read a few times.

When I go on recruiting trips to universities to hire engineers for JPL and my group in particular, I come across way too many electronics and computer engineering majors who think Java and/or Python are all they'll need in the real world and they're very wrong. The real fun, money and chance for advancement goes to the engineer who wants to know how everything works and isn't afraid to work at the hardware/software interface level.

Just another opinion.

-Kevin

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

I'll admit it. When it comes to programming, I'm a control freak. I like being able to know what my code is doing, where it's getting values from, and if it's doing what I want it to do. I love EasyC for a quick-and-dirty coding tool (though from reading this thread I realize it's much more than that), but I am hesitant to use functions that I can't see. That's why I currently prefer MPLAB, though I'm not a big fan of that either.

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

In spite of what I said before, I totally agree with Kevin, having been in the same position of interviewing job candidates. In fact I'll go even further to say that these days people that don't have that deeper understanding are less able to use their high level tools. Without being able to program in assembly language, you can't know how efficiently a compiler might translate your algorithm and how well it maps to the actual hardware. I've seen CS majors who have no clue as to what the computer is really doing to run their programs.

I guess my point was that in 6 weeks you can't do and learn everything, and being able to write the code from the ground up is a difficult task. Because of the work than many people, like Kevin, have done to provide a base for the FIRST community, a larger number teams are able to achieve remarkable results with their robots. And while they might not understand how it all works under the covers, their robots sure do perform.

Re: easyC vs Hardcoding
 

If you are new to programing, then easyC is the best software you can use. it narrows down the code to simple drag-and-drop functions and you can write a code really quickly. if you are a noob at this (like myself...) i suggest you use easyC.