[SoftwareBug2.0]

There aren't any rules about the using a specific IDE. However, the IDE that we get at kickoff has the commands to build the code in the right way to run on the cRIO and to send code to the robot built in. These are things that you don't want to have to figure out yourself until you're pretty confident with your coding.

I recommend doing as much C++ programming as possible between now and kickoff. It's less important what you're coding than that you're getting practice. Does your team have last year's robot still together? If so, you could try to make it do the same thing in C++ that it did in Labview.