What are you programming in?

[gixxy]

Originally Posted by come-at-me-bro

Our team is programming in C++! I'm surprised the majority of people are programming in Java. Then again in most schools there is a few classes for Java.

I wish we had a Java class, or any programming class....... We lost the only one we had (Visual Basic) last year...... It is horrible......

[theprgramerdude]

Originally Posted by come-at-me-bro

Our team is programming in C++! I'm surprised the majority of people are programming in Java. Then again in most schools there is a few classes for Java.

Why are you surprised?

[Michael Hill]

I wish Fortran 90/95 were allowed....Such a beautiful language. ;-)

[theprgramerdude]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I wish Fortran 90/95 were allowed....Such a beautiful language. ;-)

OH GOD, whyyyy... No functions???? How would anything get done.

[Chexposito]

C++ all the way, love it. I'm taking my first college programming class in it. I however will probably learn labview due to the number of mentors that i hear talking about using it in the engineering workplace (there is no class at my school, but they are having training on it and free certification test).

[bdbayes]

My team is using java. JAVA gives you the ability to rewrite the core code and therefore change it as necessary.

[Chexposito]

Originally Posted by bdbayes

JAVA gives you the ability to rewrite the core code and therefore change it as necessary.

C/C++ does this as well and is classified as a lower code language than java (closer to actual machine code)

[bdbayes]

We also use java because that is what so many of the students at our school are trained in AP Computer Science.

Originally Posted by Chexposito

C/C++ does this as well and is classified as a lower code language than java (closer to actual machine code)

[shuhao]

Tbh both Java and c++ are bloated languages that's really not ideal in a high-school robot competition.

[apalrd]

Originally Posted by shuhao

Tbh both Java and c++ are bloated languages that's really not ideal in a high-school robot competition.

Why?

C/C++ is/are one of the most common programming languages in existence today, and I would call C one of the most fundamental languages of computer programming.

What language would you suggest?
-It has to be able to be compiled or it's interpreter/VM must be able to be compiled for VxWorks
-The resulting code including the interpreter/VM must be very memory-small
-It has to be an easily accessible language (IDE's and tools for it must be free or donated, etc.)

[theprgramerdude]

Originally Posted by shuhao

Tbh both Java and c++ are bloated languages that's really not ideal in a high-school robot competition.

What's bloated about them? They're very simple and powerful languages, especially with the library support given (although I'm unhappy about Java ME).

[shuhao]

Originally Posted by theprgramerdude

What's bloated about them? They're very simple and powerful languages, especially with the library support given (although I'm unhappy about Java ME).

C++ is hardly a simple language... try dealing with template code... then crazy preprocessor macros.. then its messed up class system. I agree it has its uses (for writing amazingly complex projects that would benefit from having OOP support but still need fast speed)

Java... well. This language seems to spark a flame war every single time its name is mentioned in certain IRC chatrooms.. so I'll leave it there..

I agree, although, one thing that I think it teaches well, is the ability to deal with closed source restricted platforms, and licensing issues. From my summer job, I've found out how important it is to understand proper licensing, so I think some of it is good practice. That said, I would love to see the entire control system open sourced.

This is why we even need to teach open source MORE. A lot of software out there should NOT be closed source. (example: pacemaker) We need to teach "the next generation of scientists and engineers" to do open source, to contribute to the society, rather than closing, patenting, and privatizing their findings. The best way to do that is by examples.

[apalrd]

I've found C (not C++) to be one of the most basic yet powerful languages ever. There are also C compilers for basically every modern platform. You can't really say it's less bloated than something like Python, which is itself written in C and interpreted.

[Greg McKaskle]

Perhaps the discussion about open source should move to its own thread. I'll be happy to contribute my thoughts there, but this is a poll thread.

Greg McKaskle

[shuhao]

Originally Posted by apalrd

Why?

C/C++ is/are one of the most common programming languages in existence today, and I would call C one of the most fundamental languages of computer programming.

What language would you suggest?
-It has to be able to be compiled or it's interpreter/VM must be able to be compiled for VxWorks
-The resulting code including the interpreter/VM must be very memory-small
-It has to be an easily accessible language (IDE's and tools for it must be free or donated, etc.)

Python

It has been done .

Very accessible (no need to compile, even. So you don't even need an ide ).

IMO the entire software chain of the competition should be oss. But I guess those sponsors wont like that.