1. The most important thing I'm finding about sitting down and writing with RobotC is that I cannot believe someone doesn't think it important enough to create a manual. I even have purchased the CD training guide.. but it is so important to have some type of manual.. the NQC guide type at least. I mean use that as a template take the weekend and churn something out.. This won't take hold without a manual.. and you've put so much effort into it..

2. Why does the following give a syntax error?

int iTurn;

task main()
{
iTurn = iTurn + iTurn; <--------------- error!!
}

I had to resort to iTurn = iTurn *2 .. (and I know it can be done with a += but still.. why?

3. Also I could not negate a boolean value..

bool bTest

later in a task...

bTest = !bTest; <----------------- does nothing!

This is a little more insidious because it actually does nothing.. and I expected it to invert the bTest value. I actually had to use an 'if' statement to do the inversion. Maybe I am using the wrong syntax here, but I thought this was a standard form in C.

Just some things I found in the first few hours of using RobotC

I am finding it is taking way too long to find out details of the language

Dave Crabbe
Faculty, Nova Scotia Community College

Hi Dave, I have sent a message to the developer about the errors you are receiving. He will get back to you shortly.

As far as help files, the latest version (v1.10) has a newly implemented help section that should be of more assistance to the ROBOTC community. We understand your frustration and we've been working to implement additional help for some time now.

If you didn't already know if the functionality of the integrated pop-up help window, you can take a look at it if you double click on the left-hand side of the ROBOTC window. There's a section on the left that we call the "Code Templates" area. If you double click on a section, for instance "Motors" or "Math", it will come up with a window. The window will contain information about the section you clicked on, along with explanation of the functions. This can also be accessed from the "Help" -> "Help Topics" area.

Again, our developer will get to you shortly, and thank you for your patience.

Thanks for the quick reply..

There are a huge number of great features in RobotC.. and it tries to do so much.. especially in the formatting..

I find the formatting goes funky fairly often.... I type a curly brace and it ends up going up about 2 lines and at the end.. maybe the formatting control attempts to do too much.. I might see if I can turn that off..

I'll look in the help sections, although I looked at the math section I thought and didn't see anything relating to my problems.

I was also looking for information about subroutines and its capabilities in that area.. I find lots of stuff on tasks.. but programming using multitasking .. you need to be a much better programmer to use multi-tasking and for me.. when trying to look at teaching this stuff.. I want students to have a better handle on subroutines first.. I didn't see much info on subroutines.. and looking through all the examples is a painful way to try to get information on a specific topic.

Great product, though.. hope the energy is there to stick with it for a few years..

Dave

Dave, I just received word that the problems you were having were, in fact, bugs. They have been fixed and will be posted up very soon.

As far as the subroutine help, we will continue to add information to the help documents. I will send a note to the developers to see if we can put that section higher in our priority list.

great..

Thanks for the very quick feedback..

dave