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Although getting started with the Arduino platform is considered relatively simple, it is difficult to imagine for those without any prior experience in electronics and programming.
With help here come kits that lower the entry threshold to a reasonable minimum.
Beginning with Arduino - how to get started?
Plenty of tutorials tell you what to do and point to ready-made kits. Admittedly, they have been brilliantly described, and there is no shortage of tutorials in the Arduino enthusiast community for virtually every level of expertise. Nevertheless, for some people, completing such projects on their own still seems to be a challenge difficult to imagine. Before getting started with Arduino, it’s worth considering why you want to do it and what you’d like to achieve. Do you want to learn electronics, complete a specific project, or just explore? Working with Arduino can be challenging and can lead to frustration especially at the beginning of the journey. Be ready to make mistakes and treat them as valuable learning experiences.
The first actual step, of course, is to purchase an Arduino kit. You can choose one of the popular devices such as the excellent and widely recognized Arduino Uno, Nano or Leonardo starter depending on your needs and budget, but we recommend a full starter kit. Arduino kits include an Arduino board and basic electronic components such as wires, LEDs and resistors. It doesn’t hurt to take one of the electronics courses available at Botland beforehand. For ease of reference and to be able to continue the article at all, we will consider that you already have this knowledge.
Unboxing - Arduino starter kit
…Or what to expect when you open. StarterKit K000007 is a complete package containing everything you need to get started with the Arduino platform.
Included is the main Arduino board, in this case it will be an Arduino Uno. It is the main microcontroller board that will serve as a controller for your projects. The kit will include various types of wires and connections, such as connection wires and USB cables. You’ll also find basic electronic components in the kit, such as LEDs, resistors, capacitors, potentiometers, buttons, buzzer, photoresistors and many types of sensors. This eliminates the need to source individual components and ensures compatibility with the Arduino platform. However, the first item from the contents of the box that most are directed to is a comprehensive 172-page user’ s guide in English. The book describes the kit’s components and includes 15 projects. It also includes information on the approximate difficulty level, expected completion time and necessary codes.
Even at this point, an important element is hands-on experience – because Arduino starter kits are designed to encourage hands-on learning. You can connect components, write code and see the results in real time. It’s hard to overstate the fact that each starter kit provides a structured learning path for beginners. These are step-by-step instructions and tutorials that guide you through the basics of electronics and programming whether you already have some knowledge or not, so there’s certainly no feeling of being overwhelmed or in a situation where you don’t know what to actually do next with the thing you just held in your hand.
Choosing an Arduino environment to work in
Rest assured – you can complete many projects using the Arduino platform without programming. Nothing prevents you from using it as a basic controller to build simple electronic circuits. You can use Arduino to control LEDs, a DC motor or a servo without writing code. While there are many ready-made projects and tutorials available online that offer ready-made source codes for various applications and don’t really require you to do virtually any modification, we still encourage you to use the Arduino to its full potential and do it yourself to…. well, just to know how it works. If you’ve already dared to jump in at the deep end, the next step is to download and install the development environment Arduino IDE. This is free software available for Windows, macOS and Linux that allows you to write, compile and upload code to an Arduino board. In addition to the standard Arduino IDE development environment, there are others that can be used to program and work with the platform. Among these alternatives, and sometimes complementary learning support, we can mention examples such as:
- CodeBlocks with ArduBlock library. CodeBlocks is an open-source and cross-platform development environment that can be used to program microcontrollers. The ArduBlock library is an add-on to CodeBlocks that allows Arduino programming with graphical blocks. Great for getting an overview in space and working on the imagination.
- Visual Studio Code with Arduino extension. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is an advanced development environment that can be extended with various plug-ins. The Arduino extension for VS Code allows you to program and upload code directly from this environment, and offers a number of advanced features such as smart prompts, debugging, library management and more.
- PlatformIO. An open development environment for microcontroller supporters that supports multiple platforms – including Arduino. It is a very versatile tool that offers advanced functions for managing libraries or debugging code.
PlatformIO can be used as a plug-in for popular development environments.
Science, expectations and community - the world of Arduino
Beginning the Arduino adventure is embarking on an exciting journey of electronics and programming. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced hobbyist, Arduino offers many opportunities to learn and grow. By no means is it tedious learning, but rather discovering new possibilities and achieving your goals. From simple electronic circuits to advanced automation and robotics systems, the guarantee is always with us that we can expect more and more opportunities to realize ideas over time. However, one of the greatest treasures in the Arduino world is its extensive and friendly community. Every beginner has met enthusiasts along the way, shared ideas, gained inspiration from others and developed projects together. Whether you need technical assistance or want to show off your achievement, the Arduino community is always there to support you. For more ideas, visit Botland Blog’s Arduino category.
