I've tried to use micropython a few times, and it just didn't gel for me. All the examples I've found seem to center around doing things interactively in the CLI. Do people write code like that? I write a lot of python and I maybe interact directly with a REPL for 5 minutes in a month. There was no good tooling for managing a set of script files on the embedded device, and as soon as I had something mildly complex (o…
Have you tried `mpremote`? It's the standard tool by the MicroPython team that allows - among other features - you to mount your PC filesystem on a MicroPython device. It's a very productive way to develop! Update code on your PC, mount, try it out. Rinse, repeat. No compilation/deploy cycle makes for fast iterations.
But to answer your questions directly, yes, I do use the REPL quite a lot to experiment and figure out how the system works.
I'm surprised that you had OOM errors, especially on an ESP32 where there's usually plenty of headroom. I haven't seen an OOM error - except when I've made a mistake - in years.