Shields and sketches .????
vaclav_sal
Posts: 451
I think I stay with Parallax Basic Stamp for a while, I am not ready to upgrade to new "foregin" terminology no matter how cute it is.
Cheers
Vaclav
Cheers
Vaclav
Comments
"I'll take one of your smoked skinless arduino's please"...Maybe that is just because i work in a deli:)
-Phil
Shields are a pretty good idea, actually, as they modularize common tasks. They're like class libraries for hardware. Parallax and followers may want to look into supporting the Fritzing project, which is an open source software for developing circuits and "shields," and can create self-documenting breadboard designs, schematics, and shield layouts. The last version I downloaded had lots of circuits for the Arduino, and a placeholder for the PICAXE. It wouldn't be hard to create libraries for the GG Prop board and the Demo board. All the other components (resistors, capacitors, etc.) are already there.
-- Gordon
I mostly ignore the sketches jargon and refer to them as programs. It took me a bit of time to warm up to shields, but I can now see how they are useful.
Pahk yah cah in tha yahd ?
My favorite Boston quote is "Look Pal! Read the sign!" ... That's after learning about how big a pitcher of beer is around the corner from the Hartford Building.
Well, sort of. The underlying programming language for Arduino is none other than C++ which for sure was not designed for non-programmers.
However the Arduino guys did a cunning and devious thing. They simplified using C++ by presenting an interface to "sketches" in the IDE. Then the Arduino documentation and tutorials teache programming in C++ but deliberately keeps away from it's more complex features.
Arduino is based on Processing and Wiring platforms, and the terms "sketch" and the code simplification through wrapping functionality come from these. The Arduino guys, though brilliant, didn't come up with either concept.
You're right that the underlying linking libraries are still C/C++ (for the benefit of gcc), but the path to it is somewhat circuitous. The Arduino folks claim the language as their own flavor, which they also say is based on Wiring; the Wiring folks say they base much of their work on Processing, who in turn says their language was influenced by Java, C, PostScript, and some others. Long trip on a short pier.
As I mentioned, both Processing and Wiring are open source projects originally intended for students and teachers in various art and design disciplines, as was the Arduino itself.
I mention this because I think it's important to understand this aspect is part of the popularity of the Arduino. It's not so much the simplification that matters, but the framing of the architecture in terms non-programmers can better understand. It's obviously struck a positive nerve.
-- Gordon
Thanks to corporate donors PICAXE, Parallax, and Sparkfun.
Seems we're at least have the way there already.
-- Gordon
.Arduino was designed / intended for non programmers , like an artists.....
This may be to simplistic view but so far anybody who made an art project using microprocessor had at least one blinking LED in it.
Is that what is now called art?
I am from Missouri - show me an art using Arduino.
Cheers
Vaclav
PS If my Nixie clock is an art ( it blinks!) I must be an artist and BS2e is an art microprocessor too!
Depends........If the clock is mounted in a pile of junk held together by some means it may be art. If it's in a nice professional looking enclosure, no way.
http://servoelectricguitar.com/rocket.htm