Looking for resources to learn programming

[Mike Betts]

Meghan,

First of all, realize that the differences between a VEX controller and a FIRST controller are so minuscule that, in most cases, they can be ignored by the programmer.

There are two tools used by teams to program a robot: EasyC and MPLAB.

I suggest using MPLAB. It is a little more challenging at the outset but is more flexible once you know what you are doing.

The following links can be found here:

Robot Builder is a great place to start if you have little or no mentor support.

After you have a feel for the system, I'd head here to get more detailed help.

After reading through these resources, you should know enough to tackle 95% of anything you need to do for a FIRST robot.

If you still have questions, post 'em here and I'm sure someone will help you out.

I hope this helps.

Mike

[JamesBrown]

Any C tutorial you can find online will help you to learn to understand the code.

the easiest way to learn is just to build the vex square bot (step by step directions come with the kit) then just play around with the code. If something happens that you didn't expect post it here or as one of your teams programmers. Start with easy things like making it go forward then back wards or turn. Once you have that working you can start to add in sensors. This is what I did, except with the edu bot and in a couple of months I got to the point where I could write all the code for the robot. Once you get a good base you will see you abilities evolve quickly. Don't give up on it and don't worry if you have a question that you think is "stupid" post it any way, there are alot of good engineers on here and alot of HS and College students who were where you are now not too long ago. It makes more sense to ask us a question that we can explain in 5 minutes than to spend days trying to figure it out.

Good luck

James

[meglovesbots]

thanks everyone!!

this helps me a ton