strongback

Using Strongback

Strongback is an open source Java library that makes it easier for you to write and test your robot code for FIRST Robotics Competition. You use it along with WPILib for Java, and you deploy it and your codebase to your RoboRIO. Strongback is:

• Simple - Strongback's API is simple and natural, and it uses Java 8 lambdas and fluent APIs extensively to keep your code simple and readable.
• Safe - Strongback itself uses WPILib for Java, so there are no surprises and behavior remains consistent.
• Testable - When your code uses Strongback, you can test much more of your robot code on your computer without requiring real robot hardware.
• Timely - Strongback's commands and asynchronous functions share a single dedicated thread. This dramatically reduces context switches in the JVM, and on the dual-core RoboRIO results in consistent and reliable periods required for control system logic.

This book gives an introduction to Strongback and explains the benefits of using it, and it explains how to get started with Strongback by downloading and adding it to your robot codebase. The book then goes into detail about the different parts of Strongback and how you can use them. Finally, since Strongback is open source, it explains how you can contribute to the Strongback codebase, website, and even this book.