Shields and sketches ….????

Comments

• Leon Posts: 7,620

  2011-06-01 14:41 edited 2011-06-01 14:41

  I think that they mean something sensible in Italian, and have lost something in translation.
• Ravenkallen Posts: 1,057

  2011-06-01 16:44 edited 2011-06-01 16:44

  Actually i think the team named it after a bar they used to go to. I guess there is a bar in Italy called "Arduino"? So whenever i think of Arduino's i will always think of consuming alcoholic drinks...But i always thought it sounded like a type of sausage:)
  "I'll take one of your smoked skinless arduino's please"...Maybe that is just because i work in a deli:)
• Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514

  2011-06-01 18:21 edited 2011-06-01 18:21

  Ravenkallen wrote:

  "I'll take one of your smoked skinless arduino's please"

  You must be thinking of an "arduweiner." (That's the way "arduino" is pronounced in your neck of the woods anyway, right? )
  
  -Phil
• Ravenkallen Posts: 1,057

  2011-06-01 18:35 edited 2011-06-01 18:35

  @Phil, Haha... Yeah, some people talk like that in NH. I think it is more of a Massachusetts thing though:)
• GordonMcComb Posts: 3,366

  2011-06-02 09:55 edited 2011-06-02 09:55

  They call programs a "sketch" because the underlying programming languages were originally designed for non-programmers, and for the Arduino, specifically artists and designers. In Processing and Wiring land, you write and refine sketches.
  
  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
• Martin_H Posts: 4,051

  2011-06-02 10:16 edited 2011-06-02 10:16

  In Massachusetts parlance "Arduino" would be pronounced "Ahduinoh", while in Maine they might add a trailing "eh".
  
  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.
• jazzed Posts: 11,803

  2011-06-02 10:28 edited 2011-06-02 10:28

  Martin_H wrote: »

  In Massachusetts parlance "Arduino" would be pronounced "Ahduinoh" ...

  
  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.
• Heater. Posts: 21,230

  2011-06-03 01:08 edited 2011-06-03 01:08

  GordonMcComb,
  

  They call programs a "sketch" because the underlying programming languages were originally designed for non-programmers, and for the Arduino,

  
  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.
• pwillard Posts: 321

  2011-06-03 05:15 edited 2011-06-03 05:15

  Embrace Diversity. On Platform 1, learn Basic and on Platform 2, learn C. Doesn't sound like a horrible idea to me.
• GordonMcComb Posts: 3,366

  2011-06-03 09:59 edited 2011-06-03 09:59

  Heater. wrote: »

  However the Arduino guys did a cunning and devious thing. They simplified using C++ by presenting an interface to "sketches" in the IDE.

  
  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
• schill Posts: 741

  2011-06-03 10:05 edited 2011-06-03 10:05

  I was going to respond to the same comment Gordon did. I'm glad I didn't - he explained the same thing I was going to but did a much better job than what I was starting to type.
• GordonMcComb Posts: 3,366

  2011-06-03 10:10 edited 2011-06-03 10:10

  Above I mentioned the Fritzing project, and how it would be great to have BS2 and Prop examples included in their IDE. Today I came across this in the Fritizing "about us" page:
  
  Thanks to corporate donors PICAXE, Parallax, and Sparkfun.
  
  Seems we're at least have the way there already.
  
  -- Gordon
• vaclav_sal Posts: 451

  2011-06-03 10:40 edited 2011-06-03 10:40

  Did I get it right?
  
  ….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!
• kwinn Posts: 8,697

  2011-06-03 10:50 edited 2011-06-03 10:50

  vaclav_sal wrote: »

  
  
  
  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.
• pwillard Posts: 321

  2011-06-03 11:01 edited 2011-06-03 11:01

  Artists don't always need LEDS.
  http://servoelectricguitar.com/rocket.htm
• Franklin Posts: 4,747

  2011-06-03 18:36 edited 2011-06-03 18:36

  Here are some more things done with arduinos http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Projects/ArduinoUsers#drops (Nobody says any of this has to make sense)