PROS First Time Users Guide

The most important characteristic of PROS to note when getting started is that PROS is just standard C or C++ programming. Anything that works in standard C/C++ will work as a part of a PROS project, and similarly the errors given for code that doesn’t work will match errors given for any similar C/C++ code. Learning C/C++ is essential for using PROS.

I’ve never used PROS or written C/C++ code before, how do I start?

If you have not used PROS or done non-VEX C/C++ code development before, we recommend that you check out C tutorials on the following topics:

  • Functions. C is a language that heavily emphasizes functions, and knowing how they work is essential to using PROS. The PROS API is a set of functions, so any time that you want to interact with a sensor or motor, you’re using functions.
  • Header Files. The PROS template (the set of files automatically created when you start a PROS project) contains a couple of header files, and it’s recommended that you make additional header files as you develop your code. Header files contain the declarations for functions and global variables (among other things), which is why the PROS API can be found in include/pros/api.h. Knowing what code should go in a header file (.h, .hpp) or a source file (.c, .cpp) can be difficult to determine at first, but it is a very useful skill to learn.
  • printf(). At some point when developing PROS code, you will likely want to get some feedback on what the value of a variable is. This is not an exact replacement for a full debugging utility by any means, but is the standard method for troubleshooting issues in most languages and can be used for viewing sensor values or your own variables’ values. The output from these printf() statements can be viewed in the terminal by running pros terminal.
  • Tasks. One common mistake that new PROS users make is forgetting to include a delay() statement in their tasks (this includes opcontrol() too), starving the processor of resources and preventing the PROS kernel from running properly. Every infinite loop, like the one in opcontrol(), needs to have a delay statement. We recommend at least 2ms.

And then for additional C tutorial topics, visit CProgramming.com or StudyTonight. A good video tutorial series (as opposed to the previous text-based tutorials) can be found on YouTube.

I know C/C++, now how do I use PROS?

The PROS tutorials are designed to show the application of C/C++ programming to a PROS project. The Programming the Clawbot tutorial is a great place to start, as it goes through every step of putting together a sample PROS project. Once you are ready to branch out and create your own custom project, looking through the following tutorials is recommended:

And then you can find tutorials for specific subjects from the ADI to tasks and multithreading as well.

VEX U team QUEEN has also created a series of YouTube videos about C++, object-oriented programming, and other relevant programming topics in the context of VEX robots; you can find it here.

How do I share my code with other people?

In order to track changes to your code, as well as to help share your code with other people, you can use a version control system like Git in conjunction with a service like GitHub. If you want to share smaller parts of your code with other people in order to get help (e.g. through the software channel on Discord), you can use something like GitHub Gists or Pastebin.

For more information on how to use Git, including the Git CLI tools and setting up a respository on GitHub, check out the GitHub help pages.