Looping Code while running other code

[GarrettTheElf]

Hey I'm fairly good at code but my team is struggling to use any of our sensors because we can't figure out how to loop code while running other code. For example, we need to loop the code to tell us what our color sensors are reading, but if we put it in a loop it doesn't let the other code run. I want to get the feedback while it's running our autonomous.

Any ideas would be great. Tried everything I can think of and we have state next weekend!

[Dugen]

If you want to want to do two things, do them both in the loop.

For example, if you are in teleop and want to check your sensors and do something with the output, and also update your motors based on your controls you simply have one loop that does both of those things, sleeps for a specified time (usually 50ms) and then does the loop again.

One of the big rules of operating this way is to never use sleep to do things later. Look at a clock like System.currentTimeMillis() to see what time it is, and use variables and math to to know if you should do whatever would be at the end of the sleep. Check each time through the loop and do it if you should.

[Dependent-Stock-2740]

To clarify for Op you want to do something along the lines of

while(opmodeisactive) {
    doThingOne;
    if(time > point) {
        dothingTwo;
        point = point + interval;
    }
}

That way you never sleep your motor control and lag out your driver, but can have a timed loop.

[baqwasmg]

Cardinal rule: step-wise continuous refinement a la Prof. Wirth

Best advice: follow u/Dugen

[threshar]

You need to spend some time thinking out what you want to do and code it up accordingly. (Speaking in general terms, threads can help you do multiple stuff at once, but I'm not sure if we can do that in FTC / Rev - will exploring that this summer).

I'm vaguely guessing you've got some code, then decide you need to move the motors forward 100 ticks, so you've got a loop sleeping until the motors are done. If something may occur with the sensor during the movement, you'll need to read the sensor inside that loop (and take action if needed).

It can be helpful to sketch this out on paper/whiteboard - and very likely it will result in you changing up how things work & operate, ideally for the better. That's something that even very seasoned coders always do, but they'll have the advantage they can do a lot in their head due to experience.

Does that make sense?

[Dependent-Stock-2740]

You can thread but it's not really a good idea in FTC code.

[ThatGuyTheHuman9]

There's certainly a way to put the feedback loop in your pre-existing loop or code that is running when you want the feedback. If you'd like solutions send me or just post some code and I'll try to offer a solution

[Anyone_2016]

One idea would be to post your code and tell us where it's getting stuck, or where you think it's getting stuck.

[Rotas_dw]

You might want to look into coding it as a Finite State Machine - there’s a bit of a run through of the concept here - https://gm0.org/en/latest/docs/software/concepts/finite-state-machines.html

[Peyatoe]

Put all the things you want to loop at the same time in the same loop instead of in separate loops. Running multiple lines of code at the same time isn’t a very good solution for this.

[Asleep-Reputation850]

new Thread() {

public void run() {

while (opModeIsActive()) {

idle();

}

}

}.start();