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Setting up the Environment

Requirements

To successfully develop, build and deploy code for the Robot Controller phone, you will need the following:

  • Android Studio
  • Git
  • Local clone of your team's repository

FIRST officially documents the process of installing these requirements with a video and a wiki page. It is recommended that you follow these videos in preparing your local setup for FTC programming.

Android Studio

  1. Download and install Android Studio from this page.\ Android has a guide, FIRST has a guide, and we have a guide.

Git

Git is a popular Version Control System (VCS) for programming projects of all kinds. To familiarize yourself with what Git offers, read A beginner's guide to Git.

GitHub is a popular website that hosts Git repositories online. ARC uses GitHub to help programmers collaborate on a shared coding project. To become a meaningful contributor to your team's code, you must be able to push changes to GitHub. If you do not have your own GitHub account, sign up here. Once your account is ready, ask your CSO(s) about joining ARC's GitHub organization.

Info

The club has struggled in using Git in the past (we have literally spent full meetings resolving problems with Git). There are some best practices that help your team get the most out of Git and stay away from its grievances. Refer to Using Git Effectively for more details.

Local clone of your team's repository

Git is a distributed version control system—that is, each collaborator keeps their own copy of the repository. To make your own copy, follow our guide from Rover Ruckus. In the Clone Repository dialog, select your team's repository URL from the following options:

  • 4410 ARC Lightning: (to be determined for 2020-2021)
  • 5273 ARC Thunder: (to be determined for 2020-2021)
  • 10331 ARC Hailstorm: (to be determined for 2020-2021)

You now have Android Studio, Git, and your own copy of your team's code. You are now ready to contribute!