Getting Started

To start with, programming rookies need to have the following tools, each of which have their own guides on installation.

• WPILib tools
• Visual Studio Code + extensions
• FRC Gametools

Additionally, rookies wll need to know how to:

• Clone a TexasTorque Git Repository
• Use VSCode Git
• Maintain Programming Standards

Why are these important?

Firstly, these tools are fundamental to developing our robots. WPILib, for example, is a library that our robots need to run on competition devices. Secondly, these practices are put in place to keep a manageable ecosystem without lost files, spaghetti code, etc.

Asking for Help

Don’t be afraid to ask senior members for help! First, try to identify the problem that is occurring before taking it to leadership. You may be able to solve it on your own. Additionally, you can use LLMs, such as ChatGPT, to identify problems. However, don’t rely on them for reasons seen below.

AI in Coding

AI, or more specifically LLMs such as ChatGPT, have their place in coding. However, overreliance on them can cause more issues that they provide while teaching you little to nothing. If you use AI, experiment. Understand everything that it does, why it does it, and how you can use it yourself. While it can be used for little scripts, it fails spectacularly on larger projects, leading to only wasted time.

TLDR; Don’t use AI unless you understand everything it is programming for you.