Programming Practice?

[spears312]

(I searched and couldn't find anything along these lines)

I recently finished reading a C programing guide, (thx team 342 for putting a great C guide on the White Pages) that got me started on most of the basic concepts and commands. Now that I do have this knowledge, I would like to try and practice and hone my skills so, when it comes to build season, or when we develop software, I can do some of the programming. I was wondering what some of you programming experts would suggest to do to practice and improve. I currently do not have access to any robots or robotics kits (other than going and shelling out $300 for a vex kit, which I'd rather not do). So, any suggestions?

[Greg Marra]

Don't bother with a Vex kit, you need to get the seperate programming module and I don't even think that that is available yet.

Just write some little programs to get used to syntax. I don't have any real robot-related suggestions, but I'm sure many others here do.

[Redneck]

Robocode http://robocode.sourceforge.net/
It's all done in Java instead of C, but the two languages are very similar (close enough that you'll encounter few, if any, problems).
You program a robot to autonomously fight other robots in an arena. You can upload your robot to the 'net to try it against other people, download their robots to modify, all kinds of great stuff. I spend at least 30 minutes a day working on my 'bot.
The programming is a bit different from the way it's done it FIRST, but it's still good for practicing.

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by spears312

I currently do not have access to any robots or robotics kits (other than going and shelling out $300 for a vex kit, which I'd rather not do). So, any suggestions?

I'd practice writing some small programs. If you're on Windows, get the Visual C++ 2005 Beta 2. C++ is mostly just C plus some, so you don't have to worry about fancy classes and such.

[dasRatsel]

yea -- visual C++ 'n' all that are all good ideas -- but as a long time C coder / first time robot coder this year -- i c'n say that coding the robot is a different experience -- cuz u need to interface with a lot of code written by somebody else - i'd suggest if you c'n get a hold of your team's robot from this year or last and the default code 'r even better the code that your team used -- and just browse through -- get used to what does what, and most importantly, where it is in the code -- see if you c'n get the bot to do some cool autonomous stuff to get the hang of the code -- but that's just my two cents worth -- writing random things in visual C++ are good for gettin the basics down. . . good luck in your quest for C

~Xavier