Can I Make Something Clear?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

Now that really blows... Really is that necessary? How can they confirm that I worked on the code during the off season?

You know what, I had an actual response written but... please stop talking now. You don't understand what this competition is about. You don't understand what these boards are for. Spend some time lurking on these boards. Maybe spend a couple hours reading the mission of FIRST. Watch some of Dean's speeches. Maybe you can answer your own question.

[davidthefat]

After thinking about it, I would HAVE to rewrite my code, the circumstances of the game changes and I have to change to meet that criteria...

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

After thinking about it, I would HAVE to rewrite my code, the circumstances of the game changes and I have to change to meet that criteria...

Just remember you have to start completely over, or share your code.

The way I see the intent of the rule is to stop people from working on robots before build begins (a pretty key part of FIRST), unless you're willing to share that work with the community. This incentivises gracious professionalism by sharing work. This is a Good Thing.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

After thinking about it, I would HAVE to rewrite my code, the circumstances of the game changes and I have to change to meet that criteria...

You are thinking inside the box.

Consider the following ...

Write a program that inputs objects. These objects do not need to be defined until the game is released, while the base code could be created and published (albit relitively useless without the objects) before the season. The objects could be things like a map of the play field, game objects, field objects (both stationary and mobile) etc.

From there you could create a SLAM system (sensors to map whats happening within the known map) and an algorithm for object avoidance/interception ... and thus a autonomous rudementary AI (decisionmaking).

[pSYeNCe]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

You are thinking inside the box.

Consider the following ...

Write a program that inputs objects. These objects do not need to be defined until the game is released, while the base code could be created and published (albit relitively useless without the objects) before the season. The objects could be things like a map of the play field, game objects, field objects (both stationary and mobile) etc.

This is a good idea. Sometimes in web design I'll just make a frame of the page until I get needed resources. It works quite well. You could set it up to reference some not-yet-existing image, and then just fill it in when the time comes.

The only thing is identifying characteristics of the object. That's the tough part that takes time to program, and you won't know that until you know the object.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by pSYeNCe

This is a good idea. Sometimes in web design I'll just make a frame of the page until I get needed resources. It works quite well. You could set it up to reference some not-yet-existing image, and then just fill it in when the time comes.

The only thing is identifying characteristics of the object. That's the tough part that takes time to program, and you won't know that until you know the object.

Maybe.

Creating a script file that defines the objects would allow you to create objects with varying numbers of properties. Also some objects are more easily defined (such as an initial map of the playfield) than others (placement, size, and orientation of an unknown game piece). All-in-all it would be an interesting and fun project.