Adding a New Electronics Constant

To add a new constant that describes how the robot is wired/configured electronically, first open the ElectronicsConstants class (ElectronicsConstants.java under core_robot\src\main\java\frc\robot) and add a new constant value. We try to keep the various constants organized, so we list them in a different section for each mechanism. Each constant is of the form:

public static final Type NAME_YELLING_SNAKE_CASE = value;

The type is almost always an integer int for electronics constants, representing the port where something is plugged in or an ID that has been assigned to the component. The type may depend on the interface being used.

The naming convention for our electronics constants is MECHANISMNAME_COMPONENTNAME_INTERFACE. The name uses “yelling snake case,” which is an all-caps form of snake case where each word or compound word is separated by the underscore character _. Within the name, MECHANISMNAME is a form of the mechanism’s name (e.g., ELEVATOR or DRIVETRAIN). COMPONENTNAME is a form of the component’s name (e.g., ENCODER or LEFT_MOTOR). INTERFACE is one of a few possible values that describe which interface the component is connected through. Most components are connected using a single interface, such as sensors connected to a DIO_CHANNEL for digital inputs or an ANALOG_CHANNEL for analog inputs; motors connected to a PWM_CHANNEL; or motors using a specific CAN_ID when connected through the CAN bus. Some components use two interfaces, such as FORWARD_PCM_CHANNEL and REVERSE_PCM_CHANNEL for double solenoids (pneumatics) and DIO_CHANNEL_A and DIO_CHANNEL_B for simple quadrature encoders.

Lastly, the value is the specific port the component was plugged into or the ID that was assigned to the component.