What is Easy C good for?

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

I gave him the PID control code I developed in the fall and already we have the basis for an amazing closed-loop feedback and control system for our robot's tele-operated and autonomous modes, at a degree light years ahead of the sophistication we could have achieved in MPLAB.

...but he didn't reuse that PID code, right?

I've seen a lot of different comments here on CD lately that give me the impression that people are either conveniently ignoring R76 (not necessarily saying you are) or else they're reading it differently than I am.

[esquared]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

...but he didn't reuse that PID code, right?

I've seen a lot of different comments here on CD lately that give me the impression that people are either conveniently ignoring R76 (not necessarily saying you are) or else they're reading it differently than I am.

I'm reading R76 the same way you are Dave. We started this year's repository by checking in the default code from IFI, then re-writing the elements we could use from last year. Despite how silly it is to re-write the same joystick PWM curves to give our drivers the same response they loved last year, C code is no different from a CAD drawing of a wheel you want to re-use from previous designs. I don't necessarily agree with R76, but you're not alone in your interpretation.

Sorry for the thread hijack

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

...but he didn't reuse that PID code, right?

I've seen a lot of different comments here on CD lately that give me the impression that people are either conveniently ignoring R76 (not necessarily saying you are) or else they're reading it differently than I am.

Don't worry, we are in full compliance with <R76>.

I developed the code to run on the Vex controller in EasyC PRO. To use it on a FRC Controller it would have to be retyped up, and several changes (most notably the joystick mapping) would have to be made for it to run on the FRC controller. It was not until after the Kickoff event in which I gave the code to our programming mentor. By retyping up the code, we now satisify the requirements for <R76>.

Basically the code I wrote in the fall was "prototype" code that was completely rewritten during the build season.

[yongkimleng]

I'd personally used EasyC for vex and must say that its definitely much easier for my role (to teach programming) to the kids! I cleared the basics in <= 1 day.. never could I have done the same with traditional teaching lines of C code and syntax. Not only that, they start coding very fast and must say that I am amazed at the simplicity of basic C building blocks

But besides that, not sure if the kids will end up learning proper C syntax or get interested in typing-based coding in future.

Personally prefer MPLAB and Eclipse, typing is faster for me. MPLAB is a terrible GUI IDE, but not complaining too much as Eclipse is quite well developed by the masses. MPLAB is like the basic so I'm not complaining of lack of frills. EasyC has been developed a lot to have templates in the form of boxes, and much integration to ensure that it will work with the processor it is bundled with. Going a level higher to other microcontrollers, one cannot avoid going towards mplab / raw C / ASM programming, unless another takes effort to do the neccessary template legwork to make it easy for the massses to program that particular controller.

I hope there will not be any quarrels/war due to easyc/mplab, its just like mac/PC or C++/java. Both have their advantages and cater to different purposes. Both are useful tools and different learning curves.. different interfaces, different methods of working with your algo... being well versed with both tools would be the best