An introduction to arduino

Arduino is an open-source platform for prototyping platform based on easy-to-use software and hardware. Arduino boards are capable of reading inputs - a finger on a button, Twitter message or a light on a sensor, - and turn the input into an output - turning on an LED, publishing something online, or activating a motor. All this is usually defined by a pre-set of instructions that are programmed through the Arduino Software (IDE).

Over the past couple of years, Arduino has been the main enabler of thousands of projects, from complex scientific instruments to everyday objects. A worldwide distributed community of makers - hobbyists, students, artists, professionals and programmers have gathered around this open-source platform, their vast contributions have added up to an amazing amount of accessible knowledge that can be of really great help to experts and novices alike.

The birth of Arduino was at the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as a tool used for fast prototyping, mainly aimed at students that do not have a background in programming and electronics.. As soon as Arduino reached a larger community, the Arduino board started changing so as to adapt to new challenges and needs, differentiating its offer from simple 8-bit boards to products for IT applications, 3D printing, embedded environments and wearables.. All Arduino boards are open-source, thus empowering users to build them independently and then adapt them to their specific needs.

The Arduino software, too, is open-source, and is growing through the contributions of various users worldwide.

Why Use Arduino?

Thanks to its accessible and simple user experience, Arduino has now been used in hundreds of thousands of different applications and projects. The Arduino software is relatively very easy to use for beginners, yet very flexible for advanced users of the software. It runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Students and teachers use Arduino to build low cost laboratory instruments, to prove physics and chemistry principles, or to get started with robotics and programming. Architects and designers build interactive prototypes, artists and musicians use it for installations and when experimenting with new musical instruments. Arduino is a very key tool to learn new adventurous things. Anyone including hobbyists, children, programmers and artists - can start their projects just by the following the step by step instructions found in a kit, or sharing their amazing ideas online eg forums with the other members of the Arduino community.

There are many other microcontroller platforms that are available for physical computing. Netmedia's BX-24, Phidgets, Parallax Basic Stamp, MIT's Handyboard e.t.c. All these tools take the details of microcontroller programming and then wrap it up in an easy to use package. Arduino software and hardware also simplifies the process of working with the microcontrollers, but it also offers some advantage for students, teachers and any interested amateurs such as;

Inexpensive - The boards are inexpensive compared to the other microcontroller platforms in the market today.

Cross-platform - The software runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh OS X Most of the other microcontroller platforms run on only windows..

Simple, clear programming environment

Open source and extensible software

Open source and extensible hardware

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