Note: We are going through round two of C++ training with this curriculum. As of now, we have not updated any code, but the lessons under "Curriculum" are greatly enhanced. To date, we have enhanced up to and including the "state machines" lesson (which realy is the bulk of the curriculum). Please provide any feedback.
Santa our NXT robot posing on our welding table
FRC Team 2704 - Order 2 Chaos
presents First Plus Plus
a C++ training curriculum for FRC teams
using Mindstorms NXT Robots
Order 2 Chaos presents First Plus Plus for your FRC C++ Object Oriented Programming
Historically FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) FRC Team 2704 - Order 2 Chaos used Labview to program their robots. Going into the 2012-13 season, the team had members on the programming sub-team that had been using Labview for several years. Furthermore, these students were interested in pursuing Computer Science in college. The team decided that for the 2012-13 season, they would program the robot in Labview, but a few students would pilot C++.
At any given time, the team has limited FRC robots (usually 0 or 1) to train programmers. Earlier, the team had developed a Labview training program using Mindstorms NXT robots. It was decided to try this route with C++ also.
The team put together this training curriculum using: Mindstorms NXT robots, Game Pad joysticks, NXTOSEK C++ environment, Processing.org (to run the game pad on a PC), and Notepad++ to edit the files (optional).
The training curriculum was hugely successful. All training on the NXT was directly applicable to FRC programming, and the 2012-13 robot was ultimately programmed with C++.
We were so excited with the results, that we just had to share this training curriculum with the rest of the FIRST community. We will be updating this site as the curriculum is evolves.
NOTE: This curriculum will teach a student how to use C++ to program an NXT robot in such a way (for example, using state machines) that is directly applicable to FRC competitions. This is not a curriculum to teach C++. There are many fine resources available to accomplish extensive C++ training. That said, a student that has experience with programming will be able to follow along, and with trial and error, pick up enough C++ to program an FRC robot (it's not as scary as you have heard). Also, the Lessons (or Intro to Programming) section will teach some basic programming techniques, if more help is required feel free to contact us to arrange a Skype lesson.
presents First Plus Plus
a C++ training curriculum for FRC teams
using Mindstorms NXT Robots
Order 2 Chaos presents First Plus Plus for your FRC C++ Object Oriented Programming
Historically FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) FRC Team 2704 - Order 2 Chaos used Labview to program their robots. Going into the 2012-13 season, the team had members on the programming sub-team that had been using Labview for several years. Furthermore, these students were interested in pursuing Computer Science in college. The team decided that for the 2012-13 season, they would program the robot in Labview, but a few students would pilot C++.
At any given time, the team has limited FRC robots (usually 0 or 1) to train programmers. Earlier, the team had developed a Labview training program using Mindstorms NXT robots. It was decided to try this route with C++ also.
The team put together this training curriculum using: Mindstorms NXT robots, Game Pad joysticks, NXTOSEK C++ environment, Processing.org (to run the game pad on a PC), and Notepad++ to edit the files (optional).
The training curriculum was hugely successful. All training on the NXT was directly applicable to FRC programming, and the 2012-13 robot was ultimately programmed with C++.
We were so excited with the results, that we just had to share this training curriculum with the rest of the FIRST community. We will be updating this site as the curriculum is evolves.
NOTE: This curriculum will teach a student how to use C++ to program an NXT robot in such a way (for example, using state machines) that is directly applicable to FRC competitions. This is not a curriculum to teach C++. There are many fine resources available to accomplish extensive C++ training. That said, a student that has experience with programming will be able to follow along, and with trial and error, pick up enough C++ to program an FRC robot (it's not as scary as you have heard). Also, the Lessons (or Intro to Programming) section will teach some basic programming techniques, if more help is required feel free to contact us to arrange a Skype lesson.
