A NodeJS-based JavaScript environment for FRC Robotics
The goal here is to play with writing JavaScript code to control robots. The concept, as currently implemented, is that the robot runs the Java environment, including a remote procedure call server (example) that runs with the assistance of the Rhino JavaScript engine, and has full interactivity with the Java environment of WPILIB. A JavaScript client running with NodeJS, then, can, with little up-front work, instantiate a JavaScript class that mirrors the Java class, and manipulate the robot remotely.
Here is a simple example, written prior to operating in the robot environment so using plain Java objects, that demonstrates the concept. This is client code, running in NodeJS, communicating with a server running in Rhino:
async function main()
{
let javaCallClient = require("./JavaCallClient")();
let javaInterface = new require("./Java")(javaCallClient);
// Import the Java classes we will want to use
await javaInterface.import("java.io.File");
// Instantiate the newly-imported class
let file = new java.io.File("x.y");
// Call a method on that class, awaiting its result.
console.log("file.exists=", await file.exists());
}
main();
See the wiki for design goals and early (pre-implementation) discussion on this topic.