16 Apr
2012
16 Apr
'12
1:06 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 02:57 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
I'm right there with you on that...but I think that, with Arduinos in
particular, there is a net gain. FAR FAR more people are into
electronics and microcontrollers than would've been without that
platform, and SOME of those people "take off the training wheels" and
move past the hand-holding of that platform. Some don't...and that's
ok, because in the end a larger number of people still have come into
the field "for real".
Note that I'm not dissing Arduinos here, not at all. I think it's a
great platform, both the software and the hardware, and I design and
build "real" microcontroller-based systems commercially all the time.
But the Arduino was (as far as I'm aware) *intended* to be training
wheels, and it does make a great set.
One can "graduate" from the Arduino software platform and start
programming the microcontroller directly, or one can use the Arduino
software platform on a scratch-built board, just as easily. Basically
someone can "graduate" into more advanced hardware OR more advanced
software whenever they feel comfortable, and do the other later.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Yes, but an
Arduino is seldom part of that solution space for the
low-power domain. Great for tooling around, yes, but you need to be
rather careful in doing low-power design.
I feel that the Arduino emobodies most of what's wrong with mdoern
hobbyist electronics. It implies that solutions are obtained by plugging
together fairly complex modules (whereas really elegant solutions are
almost always obtaiend by thinking in terms of simple components and
using the properly) and it implies that soldering is a complex skill that
you don;t nbeed ot learn (whereas I, and many others found it very easy
to learn, and it's essential if you want to go further with electronics).