Wanting to start Arduino (microcontrollers)

[Fishy4004]

So this was a post somewhere else, but some kind fellow told me to start here. So, I did SOME research, found myself a nice little kit on Amazon. So, how do I start, and where.
Heres the kit FYI, it was recommended greatly due to research:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D8KOZF4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

[Ken g6]

There are some Arduino users around here, but not many. You might have more luck at a place like this: https://www.element14.com/community/community/arduino

 

[Cogman]

I would personally recommend that you start off with something a little higher level than arduino's if you are just starting to program.

A Raspberry pi, for example, is fairly cheap, runs linux, and has pretty much all of the same functionality. Making it "do" stuff is as simple as writing to the "do stuff" file.

If you choose an embedded linux system, then you can choose from simpler programming languages to get your feat wet. Javascript via nodejs, python, ruby, Java even. Starting with a special version of C isn't really a whole bunch of fun for most

As a bonus, you can pretty much hook up a keyboard to the Pi and do all your programming/setup there. Much easier, IMO, than worrying about setting compile targets, JTAG cables, etc.

 

[Fishy4004]

I would personally recommend that you start off with something a little higher level than arduino's if you are just starting to program.

A Raspberry pi, for example, is fairly cheap, runs linux, and has pretty much all of the same functionality. Making it "do" stuff is as simple as writing to the "do stuff" file.

If you choose an embedded linux system, then you can choose from simpler programming languages to get your feat wet. Javascript via nodejs, python, ruby, Java even. Starting with a special version of C isn't really a whole bunch of fun for most

As a bonus, you can pretty much hook up a keyboard to the Pi and do all your programming/setup there. Much easier, IMO, than worrying about setting compile targets, JTAG cables, etc.

I was considering starting "C" and "C+". What about the kit, how does it look to you?

 

[Red Squirrel]

There's plenty of tutorials on Arduino, though if you don't know programming at all it may not be the easiest place to start. I would start with writing C++ console applications at the very least just to familiarize yourself with coding. Like make a battleship or chess game or something like that.

Once you are confident that the basic stuff like for loops, and conditional statements, custom functions etc is acting the way you understand, then you can move to Arduino. An oscilloscope is nice to have too so you can troubleshoot stuff.

The nice thing about Arduino is that it's so popular now that you can pretty much Google anything like the name of a certain sensor or IC chip and Arduino and probably find a library and/or tutorial on how to talk to it.

Also with embeded programming your memory/code footprint matters a lot, so while you may use lot of libraries when coding on a computer, in embedded you may find yourself coding your own interfaces to stuff to try to keep your code light. It can get tricky depending on how complicated your program is as you sometimes have to do lot of micro optimization. Just something to keep in mind too.

When you feel comfortable you can even move away from using Arduino boards and using atmel chips directly. I did that for a few small projects. I still mostly use the Arduino code/libraries but program the chip directly. You need a crystal and few other components to get it going.

Oh and STM32 seems to be the new cool thing now. Have not really looked much into it myself though. I would stick to Arduino if you're new but STM32 may be worth checking out too later.

 

[KIAman]

Arduino is designed to be easy to use. My kids who are 11 and 8 have an arduino board with a few tutorials and are making some cool stuff without my help. I'll see what they are using as a reference when I get home.

 

[KIAman]

My kids use http://www.podpi.com it's kid-centric but they use javascript, node.