Help, I'm a world class computer programming genius yet I'm totally lost.

[Mauri Laitinen]

I faced the same difficulty a few years ago when I started mentoring my daughter's team. I found that picking up a copy of "Programming and Customizing PICmicro Microcontrollers" by Myke Predko explained the odd acronyms and machine-specific identifiers.

While a lot of the book concentrates on basic architecture, you'll probably be more interested in the sections on timers and interrupts, including CCP. It beats trying to figure things out from datasheets. I picked up my copy at a Borders bookstore.

I'd also suggest looking at the MPLAB C18 User's Guide (available on microchip.com) especially the section on "ISO Divergences." It also discusses interrupt handling.

As everyone else has said, Kevin Watson's code is pretty much the definitive model for programming the robot controller.

The other place to help get up to speed is the white paper section of Chief Delphi and some of the kickoff seminars on the FIRST website.

Good luck.