PLEASE HELP!! Need help programming arm??

[amirjpl]

Now I am an electronics guy not a coder, but I can still do some programming if needed. Our programmer is lazy and never gets things done, so I was wondering if you guys had some ideas of how we could use an encoder (connected to a cim motor to control our arm) to give our arm a smooth and controllable movement. How can we control the speed of the motor based on encoder feedback.
We are planning to use the Y-axis of the joystick to control the direction of the arm.
We are using the Banebots encoders, and are ready to use the divider kits if necessary.

Some example code would be appreciated, because then I could understand the solution better.
Please leave any comments or questions that you have.
Thanks in advance to all the helpers.

P.S to moderators, I made a similar post on a different thread, but I thought my question might get answered much quicker if I started a new thread. (So I have no means of spamming). Thanks