When something isn't working properly, you may need to read the status of a variable to find out whats happening. There are 2 ways to print the status of a variable (serial terminal and brain).

Serial Terminal

Reads out the variable on your laptop.

1. You need your controller to be connected to your computer with a cable.
2. Consider the following code snippet:

void special_auton() {
  int x = 5; // this is a integer number
  double y = 3.14; // this is a decimal number
  std::string z = "Hello, World!"; // this is a string of text/words
  
  printf("%d\n", x); // prints the value of x
  printf("%f\n", y); // prints the value
  printf("%s\n", z.c_str()); // prints the value of z
  printf("Value of x: %d, Value of y: %f, Value of z: %s\n", x, y, z.c_str()); // prints all values in a single line
}

3. Run pros terminal in your terminal to open the serial terminal connection with the brain (proxied through the controller)
4. Run the program, and the variables will show up on your terminal.

Output

5
3.140000
Hello, World!
Value of x: 5, Value of y: 3.140000, Value of z: Hello, World!

Brain

We use the robodash library, which is what forms the basis of the dashboard on the brain. It also has a built in function to print variables to the brain's screen.

void special_auton() {
  int x = 5; // this is a integer number
  double y = 3.14; // this is a decimal number
  std::string z = "Hello, World!"; // this is a string of text/words
  
  console.printf("%d\n", x); // prints the value of x
  console.printf("%f\n", y); // prints the value
  console.printf("%s\n", z.c_str()); // prints the value of z
  console.printf("Value of x: %d, Value of y: %f, Value of z: %s\n", x, y, z.c_str()); // prints all values in a single line
}

The output will be the same as the serial terminal, but it will show up on the brain's screen if you open the Console menu.