Java Resources

[matthewdenny]

This year our team has decided to try and program in Java. We have many students that have programmed in RobotC and InteractiveC, but only 1 student (0 mentors) with and Java experience, and that was a summer camp. So what we are looking for is the best resources for learning available. We have been googling and searching CD, but you are a better resource than any of those. Some links to documents, tutorial videos, etc. Even things that you think we surely already know about (because we likely don't!) Thanks in advance!
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[gixxy]

There are several on our Website:

http://www.slidell-robotics.com/inde...=javaresources

Also search http://www.github.com for "FRC" or "FIRST" or the name from any recent FIRST game for Java Repositories (Code posted by other teams that are freely available for you to look at)

Books I would also recommend:
Java for Dummies: ISBN: 0470371730
Head First Java: ISBN: 0596009208



Good Luck with Java.

[AllenGregoryIV]

The new screensteps documentation is very good for getting started with Java

http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/3120/m/7885

Other good links
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IF YOU ARE THE TEAM PROGRAMMER (JAVA)
Intro to Java for FRC (Spectrum)
Intro to Command and Subsystem Structure (Spectrum)

[gixxy]

@AllenGregoryIV:

Thanks for that first link! Definitely a great resource!

[joelg236]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IF YOU ARE THE TEAM PROGRAMMER (JAVA)

Is this documentation from your team? If so, do you mind us using that to teach new programmers this year? It's very comprehensive.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Is this documentation from your team? If so, do you mind us using that to teach new programmers this year? It's very comprehensive.

We didn't it was made by rhoads2234 in this thread

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85836&highlight=new+programming+m anual

[Patrick Chiang]

http://teampronto.com/?page_id=318

These are the material we used to teach our students this year. They're a bit on the incomplete side in terms of Java and WPILib basics (because most of that was done hands-on), but the setting up your workstation part (which can be hard if you guys are new) is fairly detailed.

IMO, the best way to learn code is to read it. After you follow the instructions to install the WPILib modules, you can start an example FRC project, and try to understand what the code is saying. I personally don't quite get command-based and its benefits over standard coding, but some teams I've spoken with have said it's easier to start out.

The overall learning curve should be shallow; we taught and had freshman students successfully coding kitbots, previous years' robots, and almost every actuation feature within 40 minutes after we taught them what Java was. Other things (advanced features, PID, vision...etc) may have to wait though.

[matthewdenny]

These are all great! Thank you everyone for your help.

[BradAMiller]

Also there are some videos of creating Java robot programs with RobotBuilder and by hand that you find here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bradamiller

Good luck!

Brad