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Setting up Software

Hello young aspiring programmer! This guide will go over how to setup the software you will need to code a robot.

Here is what will be covered here:

  1. How to download and install WPILIB®
  2. How to download and install Git

If you are curious on what exactly you are downloading head over to our Intro to Software Guide to learn more.

How to download and install WPILIB®

Head over to the Github page for WPILIB® and scroll down a bit in order to find the "Downloads" section. From here, pick your favorite operating system and click the link to install the ISO / DMG file.

If you are unsure of what to download, no worries! Search up: "How do I tell what my operating system is?". If you are on a Mac®, then you also should look up "How do I tell what processor I have?" in order to pick between ARM and Intel® (aka. x86). ARM chips are the ones made by Apple®, while Intel chips are (surprisingly) the ones made by Intel®. If you are using Linux and are wondering about what processor you have: I'm not sure what else to tell you.

If you are on the Windows® Operating System you will need to mount the ISO file after it has been downloaded.

  1. Go to File Explorer.
  2. Right-click on the File
  3. Click 'Mount'.

After that, go to File Explorer again and find the newly mounted folder (it will probably be next to your Local Disk C: Drive in the sidebar). Once you have found this: Run the WPILIB® Installer.

If you are on the Mac® Operating System you will need to open the DMG file and then run the WPILIB® Installer.

Make sure to install everything for this user only (if this is not your own private computer) and download VS Code for your computer only.

How to download and install Git

Head over to the official Git website and install the Git Installer (feel free to use portable if you prefer that). Then, run the Git Installer and use the default settings (if you know what you are doing, feel free to use whatever settings you would like). After that we need to do some extra stuff before successfully installing git (we will need to create a Github account first).

How to create a Github account

Head over to the official Github website and sign up with any email you would like. Feel free to use your Bronx Science email for this. You don't have to worry too much about the settings for now, just make sure to remember your email and username.

Open up the Command Line. If you are unsure about how to do this, just look it up! (it is different for each operating system). Run these 3 commands to configure Git. Make sure to swap out "[Your Name]" with your Github username and "[Your Email]" with your Github-associated email address.

git config --global user.name "[Your Name]" 
git config --global user.email "[Your Email]"
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

Authentication

  1. Go to GitHub and log in
  2. Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner and select "Settings"
  3. Scroll down to "Developer settings" in the left sidebar
  4. Click on "Personal access tokens" and then "Generate new token"
  5. Give your token a descriptive name, set the expiration to the maximum amount (1 year), and select the appropriate scopes (at minimum, select "repo")
  6. Click "Generate token" at the bottom of the page
  7. Copy the generated token immediately (you won't be able to see it again)
  8. Open Terminal once again
  9. Run the following command:
git ls-remote https://github.com/fake-username/fake-repo-name.git

When prompted for your password, enter your PAT instead.

If you got a "Repository not found" error, everything went right! If you get If you get an "Authentication failed" error, double-check your PAT and try again.

On most modern systems, Git will automatically store your credentials after you've entered them once. If, however, you find that you're being asked for your PAT repeatedly, you may need to set up a credential helper

How to setup a credential helper:

For Mac:

git config --global credential.helper store

For Windows:

git config --global credential.helper wincred

That is all! Farewell young aspiring programmer! Head on to our Intro To Java Guide if you'd like.