Hey guys, first post here!
My school robotics team wants to code our robot for next year, and most of us except me are coding for the first time.
We were wondering what is the best coding language for V5 and if we should use the VEXCode studio.
I was leaning towards using C++, due to it’s high performance, and I can put in the work to learn it.
Please tell me if I made any formatting mistakes, and please tell us if you have any suggestions for us!
Thanks again!
The big two are pros and vexcode. There is also vcs, but that is dying. I personally like vexcode better. Glad to hear you aren’t using blocks!
Vexcode was designed to be a direct upgrade to vcs, so don’t use that.
Pros is also popular and is also C++, but it’s a bit harder to start using.
Robotmesh has a ton of languages, but I can’t really speak for the quality of it since I’ve never really used it.
The blockly is really easy to use, and works well. But with the release of vexcode blocks, I’m not sure if it’s still the better option.
The ability to store code online is very helpful though
If you are working with others, VEXcode (which is C++) is a good choice. VCS is not supported anymore, and PROS might be tougher to get everyone started with.
Thanks for responding!
I made sure that we won’t use blocks, if I’m coding, I’m gonna do it right.
Sorry if this question is stupid, but what’s the difference between Vexcode and C++? I thought if you wanted to use C++ you had to have Vexcode.
Thanks for responding !
Vexcode and pros both use C++, you can think of them as the libraries that interact with the brain directly. (on the lowest level)
Thanks for responding, but I don’t believe in using blocks as substitute for actual real-world coding.
I know that a lot of people say PROS is extremely difficult for beginners, but I disagree. I think that if someone doesn’t know C++ or C, they will have the same level of difficulty for both VEXCode, PROS, and RobotMesh. PROS will simply allow you to go the furthest because it is the most flexible.
The only large exception is the display in PROS. That is several levels more difficult.
Regardless, I recommend PROS C++ even if you are all beginners if you are committed and have an experienced mentor to ask questions.
Thanks, that makes sense.
Thank you for the detailed response! I’ll download PROS tonight and compare it against my VEXcode, I think with enough experience, I should be able to get over the display for PROS if it is a challenge. If it is too much, teaching everyone else in VEXcode shouldn’t be too bad.
Thanks again, this really helps a lot, especially for a new team.
The display stuff with LVGL is an extra thing you don’t need to consider if you’re just trying to get the robot running. Good luck!
Hey, I looked up LGVL, is it just graphics for the robot brain display? If I am right, why would you need that in a competition?
A lot of people like to make auton selectors and such on the screen. I also used it to debug our code sometimes by printing values of certain variables out to the screen. There are definitely alternatives to that, but it’s often helpful.
Exactly what @Electrobotz said. LVGL is written in C, which might throw off new users. It’s definitely not very important for a robot to function, but it’s an additional tool you have at your disposable to do cool things (even runs DOOM on :P).
Vexcode C++ seems to be a solid way to start and once you start maybe over the summer or during a break try to upgrade and learn PROs which is also a good programming language, but for more advanced things.
It’s not too difficult to make an auton selector with multiple choices per color (red/blue) per side (left/right). this was started from the example demo code that used tabs and button matrix.
info tab
gauges test (more refined in example code)
With LVGL you don’t need the V5 brain to write the gui you can do that in eclipse and run it on the TFT Simulator. Of course now I’m not sure if you can get the 5.3 version. (the 5.2 tree is still accessible on git https://github.com/littlevgl/lv_sim_eclipse_sdl/tree/v5.2 and general install look good too https://docs.littlevgl.com/en/html/get-started/pc-simulator.html)
And PROS has access to OkapiLib with pathfinder and odometry. I also think there is very good support from users.
