The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Arduino

Over the Christmas break from work I wanted to learn something new. I’ve been eyeing up Arduino for some time now, and for Christmas I got an Arduino UNO R3 board. What is Arduino? Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Source: Microcontroller Arduino is a microcontroller on a circuit board which makes it easy to receive inputs and drive outputs. A microcontroller is a integrated computer on a chip. Inputs Some examples of inputs would be a temperature sensor, a motion sensor, a distance sensor, a switch and so forth. Outputs Some examples of outputs would be a light, a screen, a motor and so forth. Arduino is a small computer that you can program to read and control electrical components connected to it. Obtaining an Arduino Board Often boards are bundled up with starter kits.

The World Famous Index of Arduino & Freeduino Knowledge Alternative Arduino Interfaces Overviewing the Options Arduino is awesome! It’s our go-to electronics education platform, and it’s our top choice for rapid prototyping, but it isn’t for everyone. Maybe it’s the cryptic language, or the Java-based IDE, or maybe it’s just the teal window border – regardless of your reasoning, if you’re trying to escape the Arduino IDE, here are a few alternatives we’d like to share. The Arduino alternatives covered in this tutorial range from simple, introductory graphical programming to web-based Arduino interfaces for your web browser. ArduBlock – A Visual Programming Arduino Extension ArduBlock is a graphical programming add-on to the default Arduino IDE. ArduBlock is a perfect interface if you’re just getting into programming, electronics, or Arduino. Minibloq – Visual Programming Standalone Software In the same vein as ArduBlock, Minibloq is a graphical programming environment where groups of blocks are stacked on top of each other to create your program. …and Beyond ArduBlock Minibloq

Installing an Arduino Library What's a Library? Arduino libraries take a complex task and boil it down to simple to use functions. Arduino users have written lots of exciting add-ons for Arduino. For example, capacitive sensing takes difficult timing and pulsing of digital pins. Capacitive touch sensing is a very popular interface. *sOut &= ~sBit; // set Send Pin Register low *rReg &= ~rBit; // set receivePin to input *rOut &= ~rBit; // set receivePin Register low to make sure pullups are off *rReg |= rBit; // set pin to OUTPUT - pin is now LOW AND OUTPUT *rReg &= ~rBit; // set pin to INPUT *sOut |= sBit; // set send Pin High interrupts(); // enable interrupts while ( ! All that code can be replaced with a much easier to use and understand statement such as: senseReading = myCapPad.capacitiveSensor(30); myCapPad.capacitiveSensor() takes care of all the heavy lifting and the senseReading variable contains the value sensed from our capacitive pad. There are thousands of libraries out there! Suggested Reading Success!