21–30 of 47 posts
Is getting a kit like this the recommended way to learn electronics? I don't know anything about it! I would like to get to the point where I can light up a LED bulb programmatically and understand how it's happening.
I think C++ is a terrible programming language to give to people with potentially no prior programming or at last no prior C++ experience. And for people who _do_ know C++, it's just a weird environment full of strange hacks (may as well just go straight for bare metal).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's actually a fantastic intro to electronics. There's nothing you can really do with "just arduino programming", the whole point is it lets you interface with the real world and therefor encounter electronics problems by default The article even touches on that in the first hello world > This simple exercise it by itself incredibly interesting that opened a series of questions: > Q: Why is a resistor needed…
I had a look at the document of the kit, and it's like the one I have: it doesn't even explain what is a current and a tension, or what is the relation between resistance, tension and current, althought it is the basic of the basic of electronics The fact that the author uses the word heterojunction that is at the same time not useful at the first level for a beginner and not used or explained in the document shows t…
It was not until I tried buying extra transistors that I realized I didn’t understand anything—-and this was after taking the Georgia Tech introduction to electronics free online course. Suddenly there were data sheets and graphs, and not to mention prices. The Build Your PCB course I found myself similarly in over my head, as it felt geared towards EE’s. But I learned about KiCAD. Maybe I will give Ben Eater another try
My issue with these kits is that you learn Arduino programming, not really electronics
I can't comment on how good these things are for learning electronics but I find a lot of people who learn embedded development or programming from Arduino end up learning an endless number of bad practices. I think C++ is a terrible programming language to give to people with potentially no prior programming or at last no prior C++ experience. And for people who _do_ know C++, it's just a weird environment full of s…
EE's complain that Arduino doesn't teach correct electronic circuit design principles. Which is also not one of its goals.
The point of Arduino is to learn how--with nothing but a cheap microcontroller and some wires--to make lights blink, sensors sense, and servos serve. It's a starting point for easy and cheap experimentation, not a well-structured curriculum.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a look at the document of the kit, and it's like the one I have: it doesn't even explain what is a current and a tension, or what is the relation between resistance, tension and current, althought it is the basic of the basic of electronics The fact that the author uses the word heterojunction that is at the same time not useful at the first level for a beginner and not used or explained in the document shows t…
I see it more like the goal is to build cool stuff, learning electronics is the happy unintentional side effect as you're exposed to concepts relevant to what you want to do. e.g. I want to build a cool robot with my kid -> oh why can't you just wire the motors directly to arduino output pins -> oh motors need a lot of current to run ... (btw have never heard voltage be called tension, TIL)
It's the main word for voltage in french and I checked wiki before posting. It was listed as an alternative to voltage so I kept it, but I should have realized it wasn't common
I'm not saying don't buy this kit, what I am saying is if you find yourself needing or wanting a second dev board, consider purchasing an official Ardiuno from https://store.arduino.cc to support the folks that made all of this happen in the first place.
My biggest problem is that you get excited for the first few days, then you realize that there is very little you can learn from these toy projects, and then there isn't a project that is meaningful (to yourself) enough to persue. If you look at all those motors and sensors -- you need to think hard enough to come up with a project that makes good use of them. I browsed maybe 50 of the most viewed project on arduino…
This very much depends on your initial skill level. Have you ever held a resistor? Do you know which side of the LED is the minus? How many terminals does a hobby servo have and what do they connect to? These are the sorts of questions the kits are meant to answer. You're not really learning "an arduino", you're learning a new tool to make the projects you actually want to make. To "use all the parts" isn't what I usually want out of something.
The kits themselves usually carry too wide of a selection of components to have enough of any one part for a good project anyway, but if you need more, go on Amazon and search for " arduino" and buy them by the 10 pack.
If you decide it's not for you, then the kits were always a collection of cheap parts to begin with; not a big loss.
It's great that these kits are available and fairly cheap. But as it turns out, the kit that TFA links to is a Chinese clone of Arduino and none of the profits made on that kit contribute to further development of Arduino hardware, software, documentation, community, and so on. I'm not saying don't buy this kit, what I am saying is if you find yourself needing or wanting a second dev board, consider purchasing an off…
It's great that these kits are available and fairly cheap. But as it turns out, the kit that TFA links to is a Chinese clone of Arduino and none of the profits made on that kit contribute to further development of Arduino hardware, software, documentation, community, and so on. I'm not saying don't buy this kit, what I am saying is if you find yourself needing or wanting a second dev board, consider purchasing an off…
I don't think there is much value in the arduino hardware and the value of the arduino software is mainly in it being a standard SDK that works across a wide range of microcontrollers.