Why I don't like Arduino !

[raptor1956]

- The IDE is horrid.  Basic edit, search, etc functionality has quirky issues, the utilized character set aliases different symbols, library integration is goofy, and it complains about version control tracking objects in the source tree.  Once you have more files in a project than tabs that can fit across your screen, navigation becomes difficult.

I always use Visual Micro which is an Arduino IDE for Visual Studio, it works on the Visual Studio Community 2017 Edition so both are completely free to use.

When using Visual Micro you get all the intellisense features such as List Members, Parameter Info, Quick Info, and Complete Word that Visual Studio provides and as you are using Visual Studio you can also include extensions such as Git and code tidying (such as CodeMaid).

Visual Micro is a really great program and you can do everything you can in the the Arduino IDE directly in Visual Studio (code uploading, verifying etc) - the error checking and highlighting alone is extremely useful.

The program is actively maintained and is updated on a very regular basis to keep up to date with new boards that are developed. I have been using it for several years now and I find it extremely hard to go back to the default Arduino IDE as it lacks so many useful features (error highlighting, jump to function definition etc).

I highly recommend checking out this program if you want to code for Arduino in a really great programming IDE.

I'm still kind of new to Arduino and use the default IDE and editor with a MEGA2560 and a couple Teensy 3.6 microcontroller.  My question with respect to Visual Micro is -- how well does it handle the toolchains for the various microcontrollers like the Teensy 3.6 or Espresif ESP32?


Brian

[Bassman59]

It flattens out the initial learning curve.

To be pedantic about this, a flat learning curve is awful, and the steeper, the better.

Why? Plot knowledge acquired vs. time. Knowledge is the Y axis, time is the X axis.

Acquiring more knowledge in a shorter time will show on the graph as a line with a steep slope. A lower-value slope means it takes longer to acquire the same knowledge.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Carry on.

[medical-nerd]

Hiya

Hi all,

Arduino IDE config tip:
Enable external text editor and use NotePad++ instead (or any other source code text editor).
When you save in NotePad++ it's automatically updated in the IDE, so all you ever use the IDE for is to compile/upload or the serial monitor.

Ian.

Thanks for this!!!!

Cheers

[medical-nerd]

Hiya

Slightly offtopic - but following  a previous post : using Notepad++ with the arduino IDE

I have followed the following instructions found after a quick search:



Setting up Notepad++ as an alternative editor for Arduino in Windows.


1. Install notepad++(NPP) you have two options full install or portable app, if you already use NPP, the portable version is probably the better option to avoid conflicts.
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.3.2.html
http://portableapps.com/apps/development/notepadpp_portable

2. Run NPP, select 'Settings - Style Configurator - C++'

3. in the option 'User EXT:' enter 'ino'

4. Select the option under 'Style:' 'INSTRUCTION WORD'

NOTE word list below is courtesy of user Riva on the Arduino Forums and is reproduced here for ease of use.

5. Cut and paste below word list into 'User-defined Keyword' text box

abs accept acos analogRead analogReference analogWrite asin atan atan2 attach attached attachInterrupt autoscroll available begin beginPacket beginTransmission bit bitClear bitRead bitSet bitWrite blink blinkVersion BSSID callbackFunction ceil char class clear click Client close connect connected const constrain cos createChar cursor degrees delay delayMicroseconds detach detachInterrupt digitalRead digitalWrite direction disconnect display double EEPROM encryptionType end endPacket endTransmission Ethernet EthernetClient EthernetServer exists exp File find findUntil Firmata float floor flush gatewayIP getResult getSocket highByte home int int16_t int32_t int64_t interrupts IPAddress isListening isPressed Keyboard leftToRight length LiquidCrystal listen localIP log long loop lowByte macAddress map max micros millis min mkdir Mouse move NewSoftSerial noAutoscroll noBlink noCursor noDisplay noInterrupts noTone null onReceive onRequest open overflow parseFloat parseInt parsePacket peek pinMode position press print printFirmwareVersion println printVersion private processInput prog_char prog_int16_t prog_int32_t prog_int64_t prog_int8_t prog_uchar prog_uint16_t prog_uint32_t prog_uint64_t prog_uint8_t prog_void PROGMEM protected public pulseIn radians random randomSeed read readBytes readBytesUntil readMicroseconds receive register release releaseAll remoteIP remotePort remove requestFrom rightToLeft rmdir round RSSI scrollDisplayLeft scrollDisplayRight SD seek send sendAnalog sendDigital sendDigitalPort sendDigitalPortPair sendString sendSysex Serial Serial1 Serial2 Serial3 Server Servo setBitOrder setClockDivider setCursor setDataMode setFirmwareNameAndVersion setFirmwareVersion setSpeed setTimeout setup shiftIn shiftOut short signed sin size speed SPI sq sqrt SSID static status step Stepper stop String stringCallbackFunction subnetMask substring sysexCallbackFunction systemResetCallbackFunction tan toInt tone transfer uint16_t uint32_t uint64_t uint8_t unsigned version void WiFi WiFiClient WiFiServer Wire word write writeMicroseconds
   
6. Select the option under 'Style' 'Type word'

7. Cut and paste below word list into 'User-defined Keyword' text box

ANALOG_MESSAGE ANALOG_PORT BIN CHANGE DEC DEFAULT DIGITAL_MESSAGE END_SYSEX EXTERNAL FALLING FILE_READ FILE_WRITE HALF_PI HEX HIGH INPUT INPUT_PULLUP INTERNAL INTERNAL1V1 INTERNAL2V56 LOW LSBFIRST MAX_DATA_BYTES MSBFIRST OCT OUTPUT PI PWM REPORT_ANALOG REPORT_DIGITAL REPORT_VERSION RISING SERIAL_5E1 SERIAL_5E2 SERIAL_5N1 SERIAL_5N2 SERIAL_5O1 SERIAL_5O2 SERIAL_6E1 SERIAL_6E2 SERIAL_6N1 SERIAL_6N2 SERIAL_6O1 SERIAL_6O2 SERIAL_7E1 SERIAL_7E2 SERIAL_7N1 SERIAL_7N2 SERIAL_7O1 SERIAL_7O2 SERIAL_8E1 SERIAL_8E2 SERIAL_8N1 SERIAL_8N2 SERIAL_8O1 SERIAL_8O2 SET_PIN_MODE SPI_CLOCK_DIV128 SPI_CLOCK_DIV16 SPI_CLOCK_DIV2 SPI_CLOCK_DIV32 SPI_CLOCK_DIV4 SPI_CLOCK_DIV64 SPI_CLOCK_DIV8 SPI_MODE0 SPI_MODE1 SPI_MODE2 SPI_MODE3 START_SYSEX SYSTEM_RESET TOTAL_ANALOG_PINS TOTAL_DIGITAL_PINS TOTAL_PORTS TWO_PI

8. Click 'Save & Close'

8a. if you find words missing then they are easy to add, perhaps we can find a place for adding words, to keep list up to date

9. Download http://sourceforge.net/projects/sourcecookifier/ and install the addon, if you installed NPP just follow the normal install routine

10. if you have installed the portable app version unpack sourcecookifier into '\App\Notepad++\plugins' which is below the directory that you have the NPP executable

11. Restart NPP

12. Select 'Plugins - SourceCookifier - Language Settings' under 'Language' select 'C++' under 'Extensions' add '.ino'

13. click 'OK'

14. Select 'Plugins - SourceCookifier' and ensure 'Toggle SourceCookiefier' is ticked

15. Select 'Run' and go to your arduino directory, select the arduino file, mine looks like this C:\arduino-1.0.4\arduino.exe

16 add the following to the end of the line $(FULL_CURRENT_PATH), so it should look something like this
C:\arduino-1.0.4\arduino.exe $(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)

17. Save this as 'ArduinoIDE' or whatever you wish to call it, you may also add a hotkey combination if you wish

18. You can now load a sketch and you should see the lexer, tokenizer, colourizer or magic crayoning is working, in addition, you should have a right hand panel with all your functions and variables etc. in a treeview.  If you double click on one of these you will be taken to it.

19. If you like to use multiple files for you projects, set SourceCookifier session mode to N++ session, this will list all functions variables etc. in all open files and let you jump to these with a double click.


20. when you are ready to compile and upload, SAVE your file or files and click 'Run' and select the option you created in step 17.

21. You may, if you wish, in the Arduino IDE preferences select use external editor, this will stop you from editing in the Arduino IDE, to avoid confusion.


Now after saving, when trying to run I get an error code 2 , file not found.

Can anyone help


Cheers

[Brumby]

It flattens out the initial learning curve.

To be pedantic about this, a flat learning curve is awful, and the steeper, the better.

Not always. 

* Some people will see a steep learning curve as a sheer cliff face.  Flattening it out for them is a kindness.
* Others will have exhausted themselves on a range of electrical and mechanical problems they have overcome to get their widget functional - and all they need the micro for is some very basic control.  Putting them through high demand learning is unnecessary
* Many projects can be successfully achieved with the IDE as is.  It is quite possible that poor spaghetti code structure with inefficiencies left, right and centre can still produce an effective and reliable result.  Yes, it might look ugly and be a maintenance nightmare ... but once the object code is loaded and running perfectly - who the heck cares?  It's not as if the programming needs to satisfy any ISO requirements.

Why? Plot knowledge acquired vs. time. Knowledge is the Y axis, time is the X axis.

Acquiring more knowledge in a shorter time will show on the graph as a line with a steep slope. A lower-value slope means it takes longer to acquire the same knowledge.

I don't disagree - but it seems rather absurd to force someone to learn how to design, construct and certify a rocket ship when all they want to do is build a balsa wood glider.

Horses for courses.

[Technobabble_]

To everybody who hates the IDE (including myself - curse you lousy search function  ) I recommend using Atom text editor with the PlatformIO add-on. That way, you can interface an Arduino with full-on C++, and have proper search functions to boot.

https://platformio.org/frameworks

edit:grammar

[Rick Law]

Just because you have an Arduino doesn't mean you have to use Arduino IDE.

As a piece of hardware, Arduino is pretty useful.  Perhaps not the best layout, but certain one of the more cost effective.

[FrankE]

They're maybe OK but:
I couldn't code my way out of a wet paper bag and don't have the aptitude, patience or attention span to try.

[james_s]

That's going to be a problem for you with any micrcontroller platform, it's nothing specific to the Arduino.

[Yansi]

The Arduino IDE is great as a simple ready-to-go just-download-it toolchain. 

Almost any modern IDE for MCUs is like that, except 999 levels better than the so called "arduino ide", which is utter junk by the way.

[Nusa]

Using blatant and obvious exaggerations damages future believability of anything you say about anything.

Generalizing that there's nothing worse than the Arduino IDE is pure ignorance of some of the garbage that's out there.

[lordvader88]

I have 1 and used it 2-3 years ago to blink a light. And I remember being frustrated at something not working with windows, and whatever all hodgepodge of programs I needed just to get it working. IDK programming any amount, but that wasn't the problem, it was something else I didn't know enough about.

I've been learning analog stuff. Soon I'll learn digital and some programming for this type of stuff.

[CatalinaWOW]

You know, I hate resistors.  Only one function, and it isn't even programmable.  And can't do anything nonlinear inside its operating range.  Can't report its value to the outside world.  Who in the world would use such a worthless, primitive, thing.  Might be all right for beginners, but even they will be set back by the limited learning required to put one to use.  The only nice thing I can say about them is that they are cheap, reliable and widely available.

[alsetalokin4017]

You know, I hate resistors.  Only one function, and it isn't even programmable.  And can't do anything nonlinear inside its operating range.  Can't report its value to the outside world.  Who in the world would use such a worthless, primitive, thing.  Might be all right for beginners, but even they will be set back by the limited learning required to put one to use.  The only nice thing I can say about them is that they are cheap, reliable and widely available.

Totally. And they have the worst user interface possible. But sometimes they are adequate for the job. Just barely.

[Elasia]

What ever happened to actually learning embedded c?    It's not exactly rocket science but maybe thats just me asking to much of a new wave of people 

Btw... why does the dead horse icon look like  a pacman swatting a crab? x_x

[frozenfrogz]

but maybe thats just me asking to much of a new wave of people

What you are totally missing out on is, that the Arduino environment is quite easily accessible for almost anyone. If you think that is a good or a bad thing is up to you to decide.
Personally I think it is a good thing to make technology more approachable at its core, because in the long run it will lead to more people having at least a basic knowledge of what can be done with - in this case - electronics. Developing production quality items of electronic hardware and firmware will always be a job for people of the nerdier kind that are willing to dive deep into a the matter and those will end up with writing a "proper" C. That was never the intention of Arduino.
However, if you are able to spark curiosity in lots of people at a young age, there is a good chance of getting more of them to geek out. As I stated earlier, the limitations of the Arduino environment will become obvious once you reach a certain level of comprehension for the overall matter and the only way to go further is to dive deeper into learning embedded C etc.
My main point is, that you can give a box of Arduino compatible hardware, some sensors, actuators etc. to a group of elementary school pupils together with some basic instructions and they will come up with their own awesome little projects in no time!
If it is not your cup of tea: Well serve yourself to some coffee then. After all it is just one possible approach. Another way would be to force embedded C on the same kids. They will be able to produce well formatted, sane code after some time, but most likely lack the enthusiasm to do something with that knowledge

[Rick Law]

but maybe thats just me asking to much of a new wave of people

What you are totally missing out on is, that the Arduino environment is quite easily accessible for almost anyone. If you think that is a good or a bad thing is up to you to decide.
...
...

Well put! FrozenFrogZ.

The ease of getting it going makes it more inviting.  We all like lesser competition, and we all like to eliminate the self-declared experts who think they knew but they don't know anything beyond skin deep.  But having more with interest in the field is a good thing.  The flip side of too many self-declared experts is those who truly are experts will get more respect.  It takes a person with basic knowledge to recognize those with deep levels of understanding.

Arduino benefited me a great deal and likely benefit many more like me.  Being a n-th time returning hobbyist, I really had not in mind doing MCU.  Back in college days when 8080 was the top of the line, I was able to DYI a kit (SOL-20) as my first PC.  It was only following the professors instruction and guidance that I was able to build a running 8085 on a breadboard.  (8085 = 8080 with serial)

This time when I returned to playing around with electronics, I thought days of making my own CPU running was behind me.  But with the wealth of info out there, I was able to get Arduino running without much fuss, and program it without much fuss.

I am no expert and given my age, I don't have enough time left to be an expert.  I don't need the expert level knowledge.  I have fun with it and EE offers as much fun as your budget permits.

The more kids with such knowledge, the more we can push the envelop of kids' average kids' technology know-how.  The more they know, the more knowledgeable a society we have.  The more knowledgeable the society is, the more the respect true experts will get.

[ManuelMcLure]

An Adafruit Boarduino (the one that needs the FTDI cable - none of that fancy USB Boarduino stuff) was my first introduction to microcontrollers and I still use it for quick prototyping. What I find really useful is the bootloader programmability - being able to just push a new version of the code from the IDE directly onto the board without having to mess with ISP is a great advantage early in a project.

Once I've firmed up what the code needs to do, I'll usually convert it to pure embedded C/makefiles and use a USBTinyISP to flash the code onto a plain AVR processor, freeing up the Boarduino for the next project.

So I think there's a place for Arduino even in a more advanced development environment.

[Elasia]

but maybe thats just me asking to much of a new wave of people

What you are totally missing out on is, that the Arduino environment is quite easily accessible for almost anyone. If you think that is a good or a bad thing is up to you to decide.
...
...

Well put! FrozenFrogZ.

The ease of getting it going makes it more inviting.  We all like lesser competition, and we all like to eliminate the self-declared experts who think they knew but they don't know anything beyond skin deep.  But having more with interest in the field is a good thing.  The flip side of too many self-declared experts is those who truly are experts will get more respect.  It takes a person with basic knowledge to recognize those with deep levels of understanding.

Arduino benefited me a great deal and likely benefit many more like me.  Being a n-th time returning hobbyist, I really had not in mind doing MCU.  Back in college days when 8080 was the top of the line, I was able to DYI a kit (SOL-20) as my first PC.  It was only following the professors instruction and guidance that I was able to build a running 8085 on a breadboard.  (8085 = 8080 with serial)

This time when I returned to playing around with electronics, I thought days of making my own CPU running was behind me.  But with the wealth of info out there, I was able to get Arduino running without much fuss, and program it without much fuss.

I am no expert and given my age, I don't have enough time left to be an expert.  I don't need the expert level knowledge.  I have fun with it and EE offers as much fun as your budget permits.

The more kids with such knowledge, the more we can push the envelop of kids' average kids' technology know-how.  The more they know, the more knowledgeable a society we have.  The more knowledgeable the society is, the more the respect true experts will get.

True.. could say its another form of even the old lego robotics kits or even those science lab boards with all the springs and wires... alas i am now old and jadded and just yell at kids to get off my lawn

[schmitt trigger]

You know, I hate resistors.  Only one function, and it isn't even programmable.    The only nice thing I can say about them is that they are cheap, reliable and widely available.

And if one purchases thru hole types, they have these nice looking, bright color bands!
They can be easily used for ornaments. Perfect for art students.

SMT types on the other hand, are boring.

[james_s]

Regardless of its shortcomings, it's hard to argue against the fact that the Arduino has played a significant part in revitalizing the electronics hobby. As someone who has been playing with electronics since I was a little kid and caught just the tail end of when Radio Shack was a worthwhile place that still carried parts you could use to build cool stuff, I was worried for a while that electronics as a hobby was going to vanish completely. Now while it's not quite the same as it was, it has none the less come back in a big way. I know lots of people who have kids who are writing code and building circuits, even girls are getting into it and that's pretty cool to see. There are many factors, but the accessibility of the Arduino has contributed significantly to making this happen.

[Beamin]

Regardless of its shortcomings, it's hard to argue against the fact that the Arduino has played a significant part in revitalizing the electronics hobby. As someone who has been playing with electronics since I was a little kid and caught just the tail end of when Radio Shack was a worthwhile place that still carried parts you could use to build cool stuff, I was worried for a while that electronics as a hobby was going to vanish completely. Now while it's not quite the same as it was, it has none the less come back in a big way. I know lots of people who have kids who are writing code and building circuits, even girls are getting into it and that's pretty cool to see. There are many factors, but the accessibility of the Arduino has contributed significantly to making this happen.

Radio shack was like my toy store in the 90's. I remember half the store was just slightly over priced parts. I had a job there in the late 90's and you had to take tests and read books on resistor color codes and E=IR. The people working there actually knew what they were talking about. I worked there again in college and made less money and the store manager knew the names of some of the parts but was basically a sed car sales man pretending to know what he was talking about. One day out of the blue the manager yells out "You think you know everything!" so I told I'm pick out any part in the store and Ill tell you what it is. So he picked out a transistor and quizzed me on it. He got more pissed and picked up a sata cable and I told him what it was. Then I said "see I DO know everything". He went home early. He also had to always be right so when I wanted to buy something I would tell him the price and he would argue with me and change the price down. I got a grundig radio really cheap. The next store manager would try and force the employees into buying the scam service plan when they tried to buy things going as so far as reaching over their shoulder pressing the enter button when they were ringing themselves up. How badly do you need money? They don't even make money directly off of it so his paycheck probably went up a few cents tht month buy putting a 49$ service plan on shit. That manager also got mad thinking I knew everything.

He tried to sell a 80 year old guy an extra hard drive to remove a virus on his computer because I told him to get his computer fixed somewhere else. He said "See loo I turned that into a hard drive and docking station sale". That old guy would come back into the store three times a week with his computer in hand because he took it apart and couldn't get it back together. One day the old man came back to see the manager as the store was getting robbed. The old man tried to make a run for the door and they pistol whipped him and his head was all bloody as they locked the staff/customer (manager went home early as usual) in the bathroom. They all held hands and prayed for the police to get there. So yea he turned that into a sale I'm sure the customer was very satisfied. I called the manager on his cell phone and told him he shouldn't have tied to make a sale that day he was so pissed I got fired.