When we talk about Arduino, we are really referring to a lot of different things that need to be unpacked. First and foremost, Arduino is a company that developed an open-source ecosystem for prototyping and designing interactive electronic projects. Arduino also refers to the physical electronic board, which contains a microprocessor (or microcomputer) that can be programmed using the, wait for it, Arduino programming language. How does one do this? Not surprisingly, you use the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to transfer code written on your personal computer to the Arduino’s microprocessor. Confused? If this is your first run with Arduino, it is totally understandable to be confused by all of this.
Let me break it down it bit more:
| Arduino | The Organization | https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/AboutUs Developed the Arduino board in 2005, and maintains to be the primary source of Arduino boards, develop | | --- | --- | --- | | Arduino | The Microcontroller Board | Actual electronic hardware that can connect to and control electronic devices, such as lights and motors. It comes in different variants with different configurations, made by different manufacturers (e.g., SparkFun). | | Arduino | The Software IDE | Programming environment that is used on a personal computer to write code for the Arduino. Available for download on all platforms (PC, MAC, LINUX): https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software. Also available as a web-based program (Your welcome, Chromebook users). | | Arduino | The Programming Language | A programming language, which was inspired by the Processing Programming Language, and is written from a set of C++ libraries. | | Arduino | The Platform | The combination of all of the above to achieve some desired project or outcome. |
You probably are not reading this to learn more about the Arduino organization, which has its own interesting history, but we will save that for another time. Let’s discuss the main components of Arduino: 1) microcontroller board, 2) software IDE, and 3) programming language.
Like personal computers, the Arduino comes in many different form-factors, which include different processors, hardware peripherals, and features. The screenshot from Wikipedia below shows all the official boards that Arduino has produced commercially.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/OU9P1MvGFnOMWMkoV_6IySSG7MYo-wd8xtxteTCV_IcblP_Vc3c6llX39DU6_bZdHBVQloyPeHbw-nqmg0XINejYK0Exoe0zaRFCc24h1j6QifTXcNeUB29KbsklN0wgrViILvzq8DmxUcjmi7-WOg
Image Credit: Wikipedia
All of this can make it seem daunting, and we will discuss how to choose the best board for your project in a later section, but for now, let’s focus on the one board that tends to be the most popular choice for people: Arduino Uno, shown below.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Gxx1lq4-h5ZZSg2NtX-nCbBky_drI3PX2dsFUbOOzxvWIz8zPRQi6je_4ESn-dsNZwjKbswEKF3Ab56bmHWINei1aoPFgU53Y1KRTHJrE8KdLr-t10hB3P2LdfpGVgCl2Jfp6HZvce2vuzEwnly2pQ
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/t-imiC9Mmo8Nw9p42-rJ1CbYeXgLFNn11sYtKoGL-yjxjo40hX3OC-mmhAsyGLzo0fQZFPZh7JyyqZV1qjUQAzB3UTFzNa-cC2J_dy6xv6KaoZxUSVOFm7fkOVJkC0O4nast81PKpIa6vSt-GD8mNQ
Image Credit: Wikipedia
There are a number of electronic components that make up this board, but the most distinctive component that differentiates each board type is the CPU (central processing unit). The Arduino UNO has an ATmega328 CPU installed on the board.
Keywords: CPU, Architecture, Memory
Arduino is an open-source computing and electronics platform that has become widely adopted as the standard for programming any type of interactive electronic programming. If you are trying to control a motor or light with more then just an ON/OFF switch, then you are likely to benefit from using an Arduino.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NGxlERx9CYli3HzaCxzjFmDaUJ_JTEG75hfKKomTUhWfq5VFBj8YAf897Ev-mJaTycVCCLz-kVSos1PnccJO4X71R7Lq08VIj9Kasl_Ie2ZfYQztGpJfD2v-5th4lYdJH0mSs0dBIkfAF-lauXOuQw
Credit: Arduino