Lately I’ve been wanting to get more into programming itself rather than just do everything with the GUI in EasyC. What do you guys recommend I should use to sort of start getting more into actual programming? Keep in mind I’ve only used EasyC for programming and have no other experience with C.
Thanks.
I’m not sure why you think that EasyC is not “actual programming”.
Programming isn’t so much about syntax… the words, structures and commands… as it is about problem solving.
If you learn to solve a problem using EasyC, you can solve the problem in another language.
If you are looking for another language to try, or a new type of problem to solve, why not consider getting an Arduino, or trying Processing on your PC, or picking up a Raspberry Pi and playing with Python.
But don’t let yourself believe that EasyC isn’t ‘real programming’ just because it has a user-friendly interface. Try GameMaker and check out what is actually an incredibly powerful drag-n-drop object-oriented programming language.
Jason
I would recommend checking out a ROBOTC trial. It’s built to be a stepping stone towards more-or-less real programming. ROBOTC has a feature called natural language, which lets you use more human-readable wording to code. It’s really quite nice, and helps you with the transition from easyC to ROBOTC. There are several tutorials on the ROBOTC website.
Go to Robot C. The sample code that is provided is really nice and self explanatory. I haven’t done any programming in PROSe or ConVEX, but robot C is far more common, so if you need help at a competition or something you can get it from pretty much any team (assuming your team can’t figure it out). Game Maker is good but obviously not for VEX or robotics in general.
I think the general belief what “real” programming is a programming environment where you have to type all your code. And BTW, GameMaker is not easyC… By the book, you are correct, easyC is real programming, just not “stereotypical” programming.
Thanks Guys. It’s not that I don’t think easyC is real programming, It’s just that I want to be prepared to get into other languages such as Python, and not have everything pretty much “done” for me.
Jump into Robot C.
A lot of times advanced users will complain about it not being real enough and not having advanced enough features but it is an educational platform.
When ever I sit down to code for a while I open up the RobotC API and I strongly recommend teams new to coding to give the basic tutorials a shot.
Really what matters is logic flow so keep in mind that memorizing every grammar rule is helpful but not necessary at all.
Then I’d suggest using Python. 
Not for your robot, of course, but it works great on a Raspberry Pi.
You’ll find that in RobotC pretty much everything is “done” for you as well. In some ways it is even more automated than EasyC… it just doesn’t look like it because (as people have pointed out) you have to type stuff.
If you really want basics… I’d suggest programming a PIC microcontroller in assembler. I’ve posted a few of the handouts that I used to use with my Engineering 11/12 students to my blog. PIC Assembly Language Using PICBots | Building Robots at School
Jason
Very good advice!
One way to start learning RobotC, (if you want to learn RobotC,) is: