(Skip this part if you have taken AP Comp Sci)
For learning Java, we currently recommend using codecademy, but most sources are likely to work.
If you choose codecademy, skip any of the parts that require payment, you needn't pay money to learn to program online.
Also, you can skip "String Methods", "Two-Dimensional Arrays", and "Debugging", as they aren't strictly required for programming a robot. That being said, these are still useful to know, especially the section about debugging, so feel free to go back after the training to learn more.
(Skip this part if you are working with one of the team laptops)
To program FRC robots in Java, a custom build of Visual Studio Code is required.
Follow the instructions on the wpilib website in order to install this software.
Once WPILIB VSCode is installed, you are ready to go, unless you want to configure VSCode further.
Some common configuration options include:
- Custom themes (I personally recommend Atom One Dark)
- Coloring bracket pairs (), [], {}
- Search in VSCode settings for this option and enable it
- Setting a default terminal
- Again, search in settings to change it
- Press Ctrl/Cmd + J to toggle it
Lastly, I highly recommend learning VSCode shortcuts, as they can dramatically speed up your workflow (just look it up on google, there are a million articles).
The next step is to get hands on!
Optional but recommended: Watch this the first video of this 3-part series on YouTube, providing an introduction to programming an FRC robot.
Visit the projects folder of this github repository for further instructions!
Note: solutions are in the solutions directory