The Making of Arduino

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-making-of-arduino

by Tsiolkovsky • 15 years ago

97 19 15 years ago

spectrum.ieee.org

nobody3141• 15 years ago

To misquote Clinton - "It's the software stupid"

You can buy an MSP430 dev board form TI for $5 with more features but the thing about the Arduino is that somebody with NO knowledge of embedded programming can go from box to flashing LED in <5mins.

I have spent longer than that trying to work out which target configuration I have on some embedded systems (Yes Keil I'm talking about you!)

inportb• 15 years ago

I don't know, but I'd love to hack on an Arduino in C. Or Python, if people want to be noob-friendly.

gallamine• 15 years ago

Well, there's nothing stopping you from using GCC to target the AVR chip directly. As for Python, what about this project: http://code.google.com/p/python-on-a-chip/

jws• 15 years ago

Though C++ is the "normal" language, typically you only use a C like subset. 1kB of RAM doesn't go too far in STL.

Likewise, Python isn't going to go far in 1kB of RAM.

But there is hope! The newer Arduinos have 2kB of RAM!

Florin_Andrei2• 15 years ago

gcc is used to program naked AVR chips directly. See avrdude.

But really, whatever language mutant they use for Arduino, it's very noob-friendly.

Kliment• 15 years ago

It's a well-obscured secret, but if you write C and feed it to Arduino, it will compile and run just fine. The Arduino language is just a nice C api and the IDE just calls avr-gcc in the background.

larve2• 15 years ago

Arduino is C++. Plain and simple. Just like Processing is java.

the arduino GUI just adds some lines in front of your code, and passes it over to avr-g++ along with some flags.

It links the whole thing to what it calls "arduino cores" and of course the additional libraries. You can find all that stuff inside the Arduino folder (or on macosx inside the Arduino.app) in the Resources/Java/hardware/arduino/cores/arduino folder. After that, it just does:

int main(void) { init(); setup(); for (;;) loop(); return 0; }

The one thing that is slightly annoying with arduino is how terribly inefficient the libraries are. For example, digitalWrite is like half a gazillion cycles (I remember counting, it was well in the 3 digits), while it's one cycle if you use the normal approach (port |= _BV(bit)). Also, the initialization code snips one timer interrupt from you, which can be annoying as well. The way around that, because I actually like the fact that I can just reuse some library for whatever chip is around (something that is definitely not common in the embedded world) is to just remove the call to init() in the main.cpp file.

The rest is really just C++, with all the avr includes and co available. You also just need to dump whatever source you have available into your library folder as well.

anthonyb• 15 years ago

If you'd like something with more of an Electrical Engineering bent, nerdkits are pretty good, and they use the same chips. They still have a bootloader, but other than that it seems to be raw C, bitbanging, interrupts, all that sort of thing :)

Florin_Andrei2• 15 years ago

Exactly.

It took me less time from opening the Arduino package to having the first blinky LED program running - than it took to even figure out which software I need to download for the MSP430, then actually download it, then install it, then rummage through all the useless options, etc. Ugh. :(

Now I'm programming naked AVRs, but there's no doubt - Arduino is still easier and more time-effective for most amateur projects. Maybe a naked-AVR board, 8 pin DIP, could beat it for extremely miniature applications. Otherwise, just use a Nano or Mini, and save your time for other things.

I wish I had an Arduino when I was a kid and was playing with Basic on a small computer - a programmable board like this would have opened the real world to the computer.

sliverstorm2• 15 years ago

In Keil's defense, it's not targeted at confused new users, and once you are set up and moving it is a beautiful tool. Perhaps the best embedded IDE I've ever used.

nec4b• 15 years ago

Maybe, but why do they feel the need to reinvent the wheel. I have been using their IDE for a long time now and while it's a big improvement from other embedded tools, it's still a far cry from modern IDEs like Visual Studio, etc.

KaeseEs• 15 years ago

The last time I used a Keil IDE and compiler (~2007), their linker died if a filename had spaces in it, among many other issues. I was vastly more productive munging the Keil headers with a Perl script to work with SDCC than using the Keil suite designed for the SiLabs 8051.

danilocampos• 15 years ago

Arduino is really something special. As a kid I'd always been fascinated by electronics but didn't really know what to do with that energy. And then I grew up and just assumed that, well, that's over.

And then Arduino comes along and, with its simple little IDE, convinces me that this isn't so different from the rest of my programming.

And now I get to build stuff. With my hands. Makes me feel like a kid again.

It's amazing how much you can accomplish, as Banzi has, when you can reduce something to solving a user experience problem.

Volscio• 15 years ago

I'm a student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program where Tom Igoe (from the article) teaches. One of our intro courses is physical computing, which is all Arduino. It really is fun to play and build and learn circuitry for a master's program. :) Especially after mind-numbing analyst work before coming here... So yes, I'd say a lot of people are getting that giddy playful experience through Arduino!

briancary• 15 years ago

I was literally unboxing my Arduino Uno when I refreshed the page and saw this link. Nice to read how the Arduino got started and where it comes from, because I really didn't expect to see a 'Made in Italy' sticker that holds the packaging together. Time to start building some robots....

joejohnson• 15 years ago

Those guys are awesome. Anyone who's anyone in CS/EE has an amazing beard.

The Making of Arduino

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