Quote:
Originally Posted by whytheheckme
I'm a little bit confused. Are you talking about porting WPILib to a different hardware controller?
Linux isn't a programming language... WPILib isn't Windows specific
Perhaps I'm just missing something here.
Jacob
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Well, actually it's a bit more complicated than that. You are correct in that WPILib is in C++ (among others). However, the library is full of O/S-specific features like VxWorks semaphores, tasking, etc. So, porting WPILib would involve porting to a new operating system (and the POSIX programming model) as well as new controller hardware. Of course, the PPC 5200 found in the cRIO is also well supported by Linux and it's based on a board design that already has a Linux board support package (BSP). So, even the cRIO could be supported.
But, part of the project would be to port to less expensive controller hardware as well. This would enable more experimentation with controls over what is possible with the limited numbers of cRIOs based on the KOP as well as lower the cost of entry.
Fortunately, in the way that Linux works, you could have a C/C++ library and support other languages like Python, Java, etc. via the same mechanisms that are used normally, like Java's JNI, without having to have a version of WPILib for each supported language.
Mike