Learn The Basics Of Java
In the following section, we will explore some learning resources for Java and FRC projects.
Learning Java
Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the world, and there are tons of great learning resources out there. Eventually in this tutorial we will walk through building a basic FRC program in Java, but first we need a basic understanding of how Java works.
A great place to start is Codecademy’s Java Course, which covers in detail all of the basics of Java. If you have some programming experience, you may prefer to check out this article by Hacker.io or this tutorial by SoftwareTestingHelp which go into more advanced detail about Java.
Once you’ve got the basics down, you can also check out FRC Team 3255’s FRC Java Programming Tutorial and WPILib’s Zero To Robot section on programming in C++/Java, both of which will explore how to use Java for an FRC project.
Advanced Java Concepts
There are some advanced concepts we will use which are not covered in many beginner courses for Java, which primarily include Java’s newer lambda and Supplier class features. You can learn about these in the links below, but don’t worry if you are having trouble understanding these concepts, as we will revisit them later.
- Blog post by Stacktraceguru - Java Lambda expressions
- Stack Exchange blog post - temporary object instantiation, which lambdas seek to make easier and neater
- WPILib Convenience Features - WPILib docs on advanced Java techniques
Technical References
For specific technical questions, it is often best to go to the official documentation for answers:
- WPI Lib Java official API docs
- WPI Lib official GitHub
- WPI Lib Java examples
- CTRE Phoenix official API docs
- CTRE Phoenix official GitHub
- CTRE Phoenix Java examples
Next Steps
You should now have a basic understanding of the Java programming language and OOP, and how to use Java for FRC projects.
Head over to the next section Learn Git to start using Git and clone a tutorial project to your computer.