What is Arduino
MSP430 Workshop - Using Energia (Arduino) 8 - 3
What is Arduino
Physical Computing … Hardware Hacking … a couple of the names given to Arduino.
Our home computers are great at communicating with other computers and (sometimes) with
us, but they have no idea what is going on in the world around them. Arduino, on the other
hand, is made to be hooked up to sensors which feed it physical information.
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These can be
as simple as pressing a button, or as complex as using ultrasound to detect distance, or
maybe having your garage door tweet every time it’s opened.
So the Arduino is essentially a simple computer with eyes and ears. Why is it so popular?
Because the hardware is cheap, it’s easy to program and there is a huge web community,
which means that beginners can find help and download myriad programs.
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What is Arduino?
Hardware
Open source C boards with pins and I/O
Physical Computing
Software that interacts with the real world
Open-source ecosystem
Tools, Software, Hardware (Creative Commons)
Popular solution for…
Open-source programmers, hobbyists,
rapid prototyping
Tools
IDE: write, compile, upload
Code
‘Wiring’ Language includes:
C/C++ software
Arduino library of functions
The idea is to write a few lines of code, connect a few electronic components to the Wiring
hardware and observe how a light turns on when person approaches it, write a few more
lines, add another sensor, and see how this light changes when the illumination level in a
room decreases. This process is called sketching with hardware; explore lots of ideas very
quickly, select the more interesting ones, refine and produce prototypes in an iterative
process.
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In the end, Arudino is basically an ecosystem for easy, hardware-oriented, real-world
programming. It combines the Tools, Software and Hardware for talking to the world.
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http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/04/just-what-is-an/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiring_%28development_platform%29
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