I kinda half agree.... But once you have an arduino you can shunt the IDE and just program the AVR direct from AVR Studio.... Just use it as a dev board so to speak..If you actually want to learn how a microcontroller works, an Arduino is probably the WORST possible choice. A lot of work has gone into oversimplifying them in such a way that the user just makes it work without understanding how. I strongly recommend getting either a PICkit starter pack (what I started with), or if you're dead-set on a cheap development board and the PIC boards cost too much, and you don't care about software size limits, the TI MSP430 Launchpad might be a good idea. PICs or straight AVRs are really probably your best choice though, if you want to understand how they work (the architecture and all).
Regards,
Matt
I kinda half agree.... But once you have an arduino you can shunt the IDE and just program the AVR direct from AVR Studio.... Just use it as a dev board so to speak..
That is an excellent point. I guess I shouldn't knock the Arduino itself, but if I were you I'd stay FAR away from the Arduino IDE.
Hi,
That's the very same thing Nikola Tesla would say if he were still around today
I'd like to hear what it is about the Arduino IDE that makes you have such a strong negative opinion about it. I'll say it might be a little strange, but it does seem to have it's merits. I probably have not used it as much as you did though so it will be interesting to hear how you arrived at your conclusion.
Not quite sure what you mean by that or where that crack came from, but okay....
As I mentioned before, a lot of work has gone into the Arduino IDE to dumb it down and make it as simple as possible. The OP asked for suggestions that would help him learn how microcontrollers work. Unless you dig very deep, you're not going to learn much about uC architecture and whatnot by using the over-simplified IDE.
I have been working with some students here at the University who are required to use the Arduino in a couple of their classes, and it's very difficult to teach them how microcontrollers actually operate if all they've used is the Arduino IDE. This is why I never recommend it for students or other people who want to actually learn about microcontrollers. I would consider the Arduino (at least when programmed in the standard IDE) to strictly be a prototyping tool rather than a learning tool.
Obviously, this is just my opinion, but there has been a lot of personal experience that supports my point of view.
Regards,
Matt
Hi Matt, If your students are not that interested maybe it is because they already have enough to do with their regular course work, or perhaps you can come up with some inventive ways to challenge them into rolling up their sleeves and digging in.
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