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.