What is a simple easy to learn beginners programming language?

[galannthegreat]

I am try to figure out which language is easy to learn and one that has a low instruction set.

[cooldog]

C is the best of robots

search google for how to learn c in 30days

[galannthegreat]

i'm doing that atm and all i get is "pay this amount and get this course for..." sort of thing, got any good links to good sties that have free ones?

[Jdog]

Basic is probably the easiest, but C is much more practical.

[galannthegreat]

I found BASIC really easy, mind you I've only done work with TI BASIC(probably the easiest of the BASIC langs), and now i'm finding learning C is much harder at first but now when i go over everything over and over it becomes almost a second nature for me.

[SciTech02]

Python is a good, easy (equal to BASIC), and powerful language; it's all I use.  The only problem is I'm not sure if it can be used with microcontroller-based robots (correct me if I'm wrong).

I agree with cooldog; if you're going to learn a new language anyway, C or C++ is the way to go.  They are used for everything and after you've mastered one of those, every other programming language will seem easy.

[galannthegreat]

I understand the basics of it at the moment but the real trouble for me is working with very finicky programs that don't like to be user friendly(in my opinion). I am looking for a freeware version to temporarly stand for use of a school project i am woeking on but nothing is being very "easy to use" as they claim. any help here?

[gordon.cooke]

Connected to the language question is what are you going to use as a microcontroller?  Your uC might limit your choices of languages- especially if you want free compilers.  Also consider how quickly do you wantto go forward.

Easiest solution right now might be something like the Parallax Basic Stamp.  The programming language, PBasic is simple and it wont take you long to get up and running.  However- if you ever want to get more advanced, then you will have to reinvest again in programmers and such.  The concepts you learn will help you, but you will have to relearn a new language, relearn how to program a new controller etc.  But if you need to be up and running quickly its the way to go

C based language will set you up much better for the future but might be a little bit harder right now.  BUt there is a lot of help out there.  IF you go with an ATMEL microcontroller with ISP (in system programing) you can download the C compiler for free.  See the $50 robot tutorial.  There are Basic compilers available also that would work with these same microcontrollers.  Not sure I know of any good ones.

If you dont want to get into a lot of electronic circutry- but do want to get started with something that will set you up to become more advanced- I would suggest you look at the Orangutan series of controllers from pololu  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/8   They all use ATMEL AVR microcontrollers so the programing is the same you would use if you built eveyrthing from scratch, but the board include motor controllers, leds, power circuits etc.  Make sure to order a programmer.  The Baby Orangutan would be something like the basic stamp. 

Whatever you decide- best of luck.

[galannthegreat]

has anyone here tried out JAL? if so what do you guys think of it? i might give that one a try

[sprince09]

As far as programming languages go, I recommend C (I might be biased because it's the one I started with). When I was starting out, I found C to be relatively straightforward and more or less sensible syntactically. C's also pretty good for ucontroller projects, which it seems you are interested in starting. If you have a choice, I recommend using an AVR chip because you can compile code for them with an extension to the free GNU gcc compiler. There's a link somewhere on this website (I think in the Axon "Getting Started Section" that has step-by-step instructions on how to get AVR-gcc set up on a windows machine.

Did I mention gcc is a free compiler? Yeah, it comes bundled in with a c++, a FORTRAN compiler (which I have had to use on occasion :/ ), and a few others that I don't personally use / remember.Do a google search for cygwin or mingw for windows installers for gcc.

[galannthegreat]

Thanks, I'll check that one out.

[Tomas]

Just buy a simple microcomputer and start programming. Look at what others has done, and ask here when youve got problems.

[galannthegreat]

So something like the Arduino or the Axon would work then?

[Tomas]

Im sure both will do fine. I have the axon now, and Im very pleased with it. You get going with it pretty fast

[galannthegreat]

I've just finished my basic platform setup, so whatever I choose will be viable for my platform which I've designed to take any set-up I would like to have.
I'm gonna try out my Freeduino that I got and eventually the Axon to make a very complex bot, but at the moment I've decided with the PIC16F877a as my core MCU, I've got a simple setup going and I'm understanding the C compliler that I've chosen. But I also took a look at the AVR C compliers and they are so similar to what I've chosen so when I want to use the Freeduino or Axon it should be much easier for me.