WindRiver C++ Specific Keywords

[kyungjin]

I'm planning on using the WindRiver IDE to program our FIRST bot using C++ and was wondering if there were some good resources regarding some of the specifics of the WR IDE...

I've looked at the WPI C/C++ Guide but it's not as helpful as I want it to be (namely because it's not finished). To some of the other teams out there that are familiar with the system, I'd like to ask if someone can compile a list of keywords or functions and a brief description of what it does... (for example: motor[portx] -> drives a certain motor a certain speed (RobotC example... but you get the idea...)) something that I can use as reference as I try to figure out this new IDE...

Also, any other specific information regarding the IDE or any helpful resources you may have come across is appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance,
- Dan

[Maxpower57]

Originally Posted by kyungjin

I'm planning on using the WindRiver IDE to program our FIRST bot using C++ and was wondering if there were some good resources regarding some of the specifics of the WR IDE...

I've looked at the WPI C/C++ Guide but it's not as helpful as I want it to be (namely because it's not finished). To some of the other teams out there that are familiar with the system, I'd like to ask if someone can compile a list of keywords or functions and a brief description of what it does... (for example: motor[portx] -> drives a certain motor a certain speed (RobotC example... but you get the idea...)) something that I can use as reference as I try to figure out this new IDE...

Also, any other specific information regarding the IDE or any helpful resources you may have come across is appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance,
- Dan

If you're familiar with C++, here is your bible(not sure if you've seen this yet)
http://users.wpi.edu/~bamiller/WPIRoboticsLibrary/
its a listing of all of the classes in the library and what they do

if you're not familiar with C++, its a bit different than it was last year in C.
instead of a variable for everything, there's an object instead.
so for your example, you'd construct an object at the top of your code (depending on how your code is laid out and if your using the iterative or simple robot class):

Jaguar* motor = new Jaguar(CHANNEL);

and then you can control the functions of that motor from there

motor->set(1.0);

If you need help with anything specific, send me a message, i'll gladly help you out.
I'd study up on C++ Objects if you're not familiar with them.

[kyungjin]

Thanks for the reply. The link you mentioned was exactly what I was looking for.

I'm kinda browsing around the site looking at some of the code though... and a lot of the things here is really confusing. I mean, I have a good foundation knowledge in C/C++ (although I'll admit, OOP is not my forte... yet) but I guess there's a lot of robot specific words that I don't understand (i.e. PWM, Victor, Jaguar, Watchdog, etc.). I guess this is cause this is my first (and last) year doing FIRST robotics.

I know I didn't mention this last time... But could you also link up or post some example code entailing some of the more commonly used functions, objects, etc. A few examples, and hopefully I'll be able to understand it a lot better^^.

[Nate Smith]

Originally Posted by kyungjin

Thanks for the reply. The link you mentioned was exactly what I was looking for.

I'm kinda browsing around the site looking at some of the code though... and a lot of the things here is really confusing. I mean, I have a good foundation knowledge in C/C++ (although I'll admit, OOP is not my forte... yet) but I guess there's a lot of robot specific words that I don't understand (i.e. PWM, Victor, Jaguar, Watchdog, etc.). I guess this is cause this is my first (and last) year doing FIRST robotics.

I know I didn't mention this last time... But could you also link up or post some example code entailing some of the more commonly used functions, objects, etc. A few examples, and hopefully I'll be able to understand it a lot better^^.

A few things to help...
PWM - Pulse width modulation, generic term for Victor/Jaguar/Servo
Victor - IFI Victor 883/884 Speed Controller(what we're used to having)
Jaguar - Luminary Micro Speed Controller(new for this year)
Watchdog - Essentially a timer that keeps track of your code, and will put your robot into a "safety" (read: disabled) mode if it determines your program has crashed by not resetting the watchdog timer before it ran out.

As far as code goes, I am not affiliated with a team this year, so I don't have access to the WindRiver tools, but it's my understanding that there are a couple examples of basic robot code included with the install. That should be enough to get you started.

[kyungjin]

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately... It's still a lot of confusing techspeak for me... I hope I'll get some more understanding about it before FIRST kickoff (any resources relating to some of the FIRST lingo, such as the one above, would be very appreciated).

Sorry for asking so much... I just want to get as much knowledge as I can before kickoff actually starts in a few days...

[jnoor]

Try... www.ifirobotics.com

[kyungjin]

The IFI robotics site seemed okay, but it wasn't really what I was looking for... Thanks for the help though.

[kyungjin]

I have a quick question based on outputting to the console...

Using WindRiver I found that the console helps IMMENSELY with trying to figure out how things work. The only problem is, I'm not sure how to use it properly.

I'm been getting quite a bit of Fatal Errors... and anything dying or potential death-bringing can't be good at all...

So can anyone fill in some details regarding how to output messages to the console?

[daltore]

There are reference PDF files on the usfirst.org website here (scroll about 2/3 of the way down).

The main two are the C/C++ Programming Guide (similar to WPILib.pdf from the past few years) and the C++ Reference Manual (I think this is the same reference that is hosted in HTML on their website).