Arduino Beginner.

[Tony3dd]

Hi, I received a $150.00 gift certificate for Radio Shack at Christmas, and was just wondering how hard it would be for a beginner in electronics to pick up on Arduino? I have been into this now for about 4 months, I have my DMM, Power supply, Solder station, Function Generator, and Oscilloscope, so I'm not really looking for any kind of test equipment. Can't figure out what else to buy there? The thing that really bothers me is the programming looks complicated. The only programming language I ever played with was basic, and that was about 20 years ago. Arduino looks very interesting though. with $150.00 I could get the mega board, and some add ons.

[SeanB]

Go for it, Martin did a little intro to it a while ago, and there are plenty of tutorials on it.

Note to self, must find time to do it myself.

[Cdngreybeard]

If you're just beginning, it may make more sense to pick up one of the many starter kits first.  As you get more experience, you can try interfacing LCDs, I2C devices, etc.  Instead of buying shields, try reverse engineering them and building them yourself for even more learning.  You'll be spending your $150 and more in no time :-)  it won't be too long and you'll be buying bare chips, bread boarding circuits, and bypassing the Arduino bootloader!!!

A great site to check out for Arduino stuff, and more, is adafruit.com.

[Tony3dd]

If you're just beginning, it may make more sense to pick up one of the many starter kits first.  As you get more experience, you can try interfacing LCDs, I2C devices, etc.  Instead of buying shields, try reverse engineering them and building them yourself for even more learning.  You'll be spending your $150 and more in no time :-)  it won't be too long and you'll be buying bare chips, bread boarding circuits, and bypassing the Arduino bootloader!!!

A great site to check out for Arduino stuff, and more, is adafruit.com.

Thanks I'll have a look at that. I understand that the programming is a bit easier than full blown C**.

[Cdngreybeard]

Yes, the Arduino simplifies C++ programming! but as you get more experience under your belt, you'll be adding more of the standard C++ syntax to your code.  For now, stick to the Arduino language, and as you find yourself constrained or you think of more efficient coding techniques, try to include C++.

For example, sprintf() is especially useful in simplifying serial.print() or lcd.print() formatting.

If you become a serious student, learning to construct libraries is a must, and will require a good understanding of C++. 

[Tony3dd]

Yes, the Arduino simplifies C++ programming! but as you get more experience under your belt, you'll be adding more of the standard C++ syntax to your code.  For now, stick to the Arduino language, and as you find yourself constrained or you think of more efficient coding techniques, try to include C++.

For example, sprintf() is especially useful in simplifying serial.print() or lcd.print() formatting.

If you become a serious student, learning to construct libraries is a must, and will require a good understanding of C++.

Ok thanks. I'm basically just a hobbyist, so I'll probably be using the Arduino language for a long time.

[Mr Eastwood]

Programming is just like any other thing you want learn in that it takes time and effort;  probably a good approach is to get a nice easy book on the subject like "C Programming in Easy Steps by Mike McGrath"  that book helped me a lot;  once you have the fundamentals - you're away!       If it still doesn't make sense then there is no reason why you can't write all your programs in Basic using a suitable Basic compiler.