Cannot access "double" values

[Mark McLeod]

There is some additional confusion here in that printf in the new 2.4 version of the compiler is now an available library function. It's provided in the mcc18 clib.lib. It's recommended by FIRST that programmers remove the old printf_lib files from their projects to take advantage of the more efficient implementation (fewer calories/less filling of program space).

That said, I have to agree with Mike that it's always a good idea to read the available documentation on any software/compiler/development environment/etc. You are only handicapping yourself by not doing so. There are always implementation oddities/quirks/limitations that programmers must make themselves aware of. How long did you beat your head against the wall trying to figure out why your code wasn't working? In the case of the new C18 printf that's to be found in the manual that came with the compiler describing the C18 libraries.

New programmers have a particular challenge with the somewhat overabundence of software implementations available this year. We have three different default versions for the FRC released by FIRST this year. While that's great for the intermediate programmers and certainly helps to stretch their programming "muscle," it can make it more difficult for a newbie to sort through the documentation/headers/code for each of these versions to decide what to use/combine and what to ignore/disgard. It'll be much easier after all this has had time to settle a little bit and we all get through this somewhat transitional stage in the evolution of FIRST software.