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Is Arduino killing the electronic hobby?
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james_s:
Quite the opposite. The Arduino almost single handedly saved the electronics hobby which was on life support after many years of decline. Things were really bleak for a while, electronics shops were dropping like flies, Radio Shack was still around but it was pretty much just cell phone and crappy RC toy shack. Electronics had gotten so cheap to buy and kits were not any cheaper than off the shelf goods so it was really looking like the hobby would die out almost completely. Then along came Arduino and revolutionized everything, it made microcontrollers accessible to anybody and kickstarted a whole generation of hobbyists building countless unique things, many of which you could not just go buy off the shelf. Now the Arduino platform is far from perfect, it has many warts but despite all this I give it a great deal of credit for what it has accomplished. It has brought millions of new people into a hobby that was all but dead and now it is booming.
FriedMule:
I read some of you compare it to be going from BJT to IC or a 555 being an end it all solution, but I do not think it's 100% valid.
The différance between "real" electronic and Arduino is that you order an Arduino on the internet, go to your computer, write some code (100% programming) and say you have made a 7 segment display. Many of you wrote about the Arduino saving the electronic, but how? I can go buy all sort of ready-made circuit boards or why not buy them built into a case, write a couple lines of code and say I have built a mini robot. Does that mean I have build a computer if I write a few lines of codes on it? Sorry to phrase it like that but I see the Arduino as a ready-made "Lego" that you can connect to lots of things, just like I can buy AD converter, a clock, a DMM, no knowledge of electronic is needed at all. To me is the Arduino a step away from electronic because this part is already made, you are arrived at step two, using the finished board. Step three could be to mount in a box, Is the next step in the electronic "evolution" that the Arduino comes pre-programmed and all you need is to mount inside your preferred case? Is the last step just to buy it 100% finished?

To me is any programmable chip a great thing that, as some of you say, can do ting that else is near impossible but to use it to make a LED blink, a latching button or even a 555's function, is not electronic but 100%, and that's fine if you love to write code but if you have no idea of Ohm's law, resistance, capacitance and so on, are you in reality enjoying the electronic hubby? :-)
ataradov:
If your entire problem could be solved by coding, it is good, that problem belongs to MCU world anyway.

But as soon as you need to interface with the real world, you need to figure out signal conditioning and buffering. Look at more complex Arduino-based projects, they can be quite complicated with a lot of analog stuff.

Modern electronics is programmable, deal with it.

Also, the argument that you can as easily blink an LED with 555 or something similar is just wrong. Making 555 work reliably and hold the period and duty cycle over voltage and temperature variations is not trivial. So much not trivial that it is easier and cheaper to use the MCU. With pure analog implementation you often give up accuracy, you just don't tend to notice it.
george.b:

--- Quote from: ataradov on June 19, 2021, 09:52:08 pm ---My issue with Arduino is that sometimes people that only used Arduino assume they know how to do actual product development and apply for the real programming jobs. That never ends well.

--- End quote ---

Case in point: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/602bb22f8fa8f50388f9f000/Alauda_Airspeeder_Mk_II_UAS_reg_na_03-21.pdf
Canis Dirus Leidy:

--- Quote from: FriedMule on June 20, 2021, 06:15:34 am ---Sorry to phrase it like that but I see the Arduino as a ready-made "Lego" that you can connect to lots of things, just like I can buy AD converter, a clock, a DMM, no knowledge of electronic is needed at all.

--- End quote ---
(in robotic voice) Ha. Ha. Ha.


(TL&DR: Arduiner discovered the world of electric motors and electromagnetic compatibility.)
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