Not everyone learns by reading a book or watching a video. In many cases, if you already have access to a browser you can get started for less than $50. And with browser-based IDEs like Codebender, you don’t even need an expensive computer to start coding. All it takes is an IDE, an Arduino board, some accessories, and a few tools. You can get started with Arduino very cheaply. It’s a “real world” project with real-world applications. Depending on how you build it, you can embed it into your home, show it off to friends, or even take it to school for show and tell. Unlike Scratch programming, where you create something digital that can’t be shown off, an Arduino project is a real-world project. Reason 1: You Can Create Something “Real” Here are a few really good reasons why we think you should give Arduino a shot. If all of this sounds overwhelming, you may be tempted to say, “Why bother with Arduino?” There are some good reasons to power through it and master Arduino programming and project building. (Want to learn more? Read “ The Magic of Uploading Sketches, Explained”) The possibilities are almost endless with Arduino! Of course, you’ll also need to wire the board to any sensors, batteries, gears, motors, or other accessories required to make the project work. This file gets uploaded to your board through USB. The result of the compilation is a file which contains all the 1’s and 0’s your Arduino project needs to work. (Codebender features over 609 built-in libraries!) Which is why you can only use boards, sensors, and accessories which has a library available and loaded into your IDE. It tells the compiler where all the circuits are and what commands the board needs. A library for Arduino is a bit like a dictionary. The IDE has to translate the code into something the Arduino board can understand, and it uses what we call a “library” to do it. (Computer language uses a sequence of 1’s and 0’s to work.) The “compile” process transforms your human-readable sketch into something the machine – in this case, the microcontroller – can read. Then, you tell the IDE to compile the program. Here’s an example of what that human-friendly code looks like in Codebender: The code you’ll write is in an Arduino-specific language that is human-friendly. You may be wondering, “How does Arduino work?” We have the answer!įirst, you set up your development environment (IDE) and write some code in what is called a “sketch”. With Arduino, creating your project is much more plug-and-play than ever before. Arduino microcontrollers let students design projects without having to have a lot of hardware or software, or spend a lot of time setting it up. They’re often used in embedded medical devices, for example, where embedding a single contained unit is desirable (7). Microcontrollers are tiny computers with an integrated circuit. Arduino was created out of the need to have an inexpensive and approachable way for non-developers to create projects using microcontrollers. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to use “Arduino” to refer to the Arduino ecosystem: board, IDE, and language.Īccording to the Arduino team, “Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software” (11). By the end, you should have a good understanding of what Arduino is, how it works, why it’s important to learn, and how to get started today.įirst things first: what do we mean when we say “Arduino”? Is it an adjective? A piece of hardware? Some type of programming language?Īrduino as a term refers to Arduino microcontrollers developed by students and staff at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, the Arduino language built off of Hernando Barragán’s “Wiring” language, the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based off “Processing”, AND the company in charge of Arduino microcontrollers and the Arduino trademark (1,2,3). We’ll cover the what, why, and how of Arduino programming and Arduino project building. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about Arduino and if creating an Arduino project will meet your (or your kids’) educational or career goals, then this guide is for you.
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