IV - PROGRAMMING WITH ARDUINO

Since the launch of the Arduino open-source platform, the brand has established
themselves at the center of an expansive open-source community. The Arduino
ecosystem is comprised of a diverse combination of hardware and software. The
versatility of Arduino and its simple interface makes it a leading choice for a wide range
of users around the world from hobbyists, designers, and artists to product prototypes.

The Arduino board is connected to a computer via USB, where it connects with the
Arduino development environment (IDE). The user writes the Arduino code in the IDE,
then uploads it to the microcontroller which executes the code, interacting with inputs
and outputs such as sensors, motors, and lights.

What is Arduino?
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and

software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a

Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing

something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the

microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based

on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

Over the years Arduino has been the brain of thousands of projects, from everyday objects to

complex scientific instruments. A worldwide community of makers - students, hobbyists, artists,

programmers, and professionals - has gathered around this open-source platform, their

contributions have added up to an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of great

help to novices and experts alike.

Arduino was born at the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as an easy tool for fast prototyping,

aimed at students without a background in electronics and programming. As soon as it reached a

wider community, the Arduino board started changing to adapt to new needs and challenges,

differentiating its offer from simple 8-bit boards to products for IoT applications, wearable, 3D

printing, and embedded environments. All Arduino boards are completely open-source,

empowering users to build them independently and eventually adapt them to their particular

needs. The software, too, is open-source, and it is growing through the contributions of users

worldwide.

Why Arduino?

Thanks to its simple and accessible user experience, Arduino has been used in thousands of

different projects and applications. The Arduino software is easy-to-use for beginners, yet

flexible enough for advanced users. It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Teachers and students

use it to build low-cost scientific instruments, to prove chemistry and physics principles, or to get

started with programming and robotics. Designers and architects build interactive prototypes,

musicians and artists use it for installations and to experiment with new musical instruments.

Makers, of course, use it to build many of the projects exhibited at the Maker Faire, for example.

Arduino is a key tool to learn new things. Anyone - children, hobbyists, artists, programmers -

can start tinkering just following the step-by-step instructions of a kit, or sharing ideas online

with other members of the Arduino community.

There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available for physical

computing. Parallax Basic Stamp, Netmedia's BX-24, Phidgets, MIT's Handyboard, and many

others offer similar functionality. All of these tools take the messy details of microcontroller

programming and wrap it up in an easy-to-use package. Arduino also simplifies the process of
working with microcontrollers, but it offers some advantage for teachers, students, and interested

amateurs over other systems:

 Inexpensive - Arduino boards are relatively inexpensive compared to other

microcontroller platforms. The least expensive version of the Arduino module can be

assembled by hand, and even the pre-assembled Arduino modules cost less than \$50

 Cross-platform - The Arduino Software (IDE) runs on Windows, Macintosh

OSX, and Linux operating systems. Most microcontroller systems are limited to

Windows.

 Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino Software (IDE) is

easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of

as well. For teachers, it's conveniently based on the Processing programming

environment, so students learning to program in that environment will be familiar with

how the Arduino IDE works.

 Open source and extensible software - The Arduino software is published as

open-source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language

can be expanded through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the

technical details can make the leap from Arduino to the AVR C programming

language on which it's based. Similarly, you can add AVR-C code directly into your

Arduino programs if you want to.

  Open source and extensible hardware - The plans of the Arduino boards are

published under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can

make their own version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively

inexperienced users can build the breadboard version of the module in order to

understand how it works and save money.

Arduino Board Anatomy

Arduino boards senses the environment by receiving inputs from many sensors, and affects their

surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. Arduino boards are the

microcontroller development platform that will be at the heart of your projects. When making

something you will be building the circuits and interfaces for interaction, and telling the

microcontroller how to interface with other components. Here the anatomy of Arduino Uno.
1. Digital pins Use these pins with digitalRead(), digitalWrite(), and

analogWrite(). analogWrite() works only on the pins with the PWM symbol.

2. Pin 13 LED the only actuator built-in to your board. Besides being a

handy target for your first blink sketch, this LED is very useful for debugging.

3. Power LED Indicates that your Arduino is receiving power. Useful for

debugging.

4. ATmega microcontroller the heart of your board.

5. Analog in Use these pins with analogRead().

6. GND and 5V pins Use these pins to provide +5V power and ground to

your circuits.

7. Power connector This is how you power your Arduino when it's not

plugged into a USB port for power. Can accept voltages between 7-12V.

8. TX and RX LEDs These LEDs indicate communication between your

Arduino and your computer. Expect them to flicker rapidly during sketch upload as

well as during serial communication. Useful for debugging.

 9. USB port Used for powering your Arduino Uno, uploading your sketches

to your Arduino, and for communicating with your Arduino sketch (via Serial.

println() etc.).

10. Reset button Resets the ATmega microcontroller.

The text of the Arduino getting started guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

ShareAlike 3.0 License. Code samples in the guide are released into the public domain.

Arduino Software (IDE)

The Arduino Integrated Development Environment - or Arduino Software (IDE) - contains a text
editor for writing code, a message area, a text console, a toolbar with buttons for common
functions, and a series of menus. It connects to the Arduino hardware to upload programs and
communicate with them.
Writing Sketches

Programs written using Arduino Software (IDE) are called sketches. These sketches are written

in the text editor and are saved with the file extension. ino. The editor has features for

cutting/pasting and for searching/replacing text. The message area gives feedback while saving

and exporting and also displays errors. The console displays text output by the Arduino Software

(IDE), including complete error messages and other information. The bottom righthand corner of

the window displays the configured board and serial port. The toolbar buttons allow you to verify

and upload programs, create, open, and save sketches, and open the serial monitor.

NB: Versions of the Arduino Software (IDE) prior to 1.0 saved sketches with the extension.

pde. It is possible to open these files with version 1.0, you will be prompted to save the

sketch with the. ino extension on save.

Verify Checks your code for errors compiling it.

Upload Compiles your code and uploads it to the configured board. See uploading below for

details.

Note: If you are using an external programmer with your board, you can hold down the "shift"

key on your computer when using this icon. The text will change to "Upload using Programmer"

New Creates a new sketch.

Open Presents a menu of all the sketches in your sketchbook. Clicking one will open it within the

current window overwriting its content.

Note: due to a bug in Java, this menu doesn't scroll; if you need to open a sketch late in the list,

use the File | Sketchbook menu instead.

Save Saves your sketch.

Serial Monitor Opens the serial monitor.

Additional commands are found within the five menus: File, Edit, Sketch, Tools, Help. The

menus are context sensitive, which means only those items relevant to the work currently being

carried out are available.

File

 New Creates a new instance of the editor, with the bare minimum structure of a

sketch already in place.

 Open Allows to load a sketch file browsing through the computer drives and

folders.

 Open Recent Provides a short list of the most recent sketches, ready to be opened.

 Sketchbook Shows the current sketches within the sketchbook folder structure;

clicking on any name opens the corresponding sketch in a new editor instance.

 Examples Any example provided by the Arduino Software (IDE) or library shows

up in this menu item. All the examples are structured in a tree that allows easy access

by topic or library.

 Close Closes the instance of the Arduino Software from which it is clicked.

 Save Saves the sketch with the current name. If the file hasn't been named before,

a name will be provided in a "Save as." window.

 Save as... Allows to save the current sketch with a different name.

 Page Setup It shows the Page Setup window for printing.

 Print Sends the current sketch to the printer according to the settings defined in

Page Setup.

 Preferences Opens the Preferences window where some settings of the IDE may

be customized, as the language of the IDE interface.

  Quit Closes all IDE windows. The same sketches open when quit was chosen will

be automatically reopened the next time you start the IDE.

Edit

 Undo/Redo Goes back of one or more steps you did while editing; when you go

back, you may go forward with Redo.

 Cut Removes the selected text from the editor and places it into the clipboard.

 Copy Duplicates the selected text in the editor and places it into the clipboard.

 Copy for Forum Copies the code of your sketch to the clipboard in a form suitable

for posting to the forum, complete with syntax coloring.

 Copy as HTML Copies the code of your sketch to the clipboard as HTML,

suitable for embedding in web pages.

 Paste Puts the contents of the clipboard at the cursor position, in the editor.

 Select All Selects and highlights the whole content of the editor.

 Comment/Uncomment Puts or removes the // comment marker at the beginning of

each selected line.

  Increase/Decrease Indent Adds or subtracts a space at the beginning of each

selected line, moving the text one space on the right or eliminating a space at the

beginning.

 Find Opens the Find and Replace window where you can specify text to search

inside the current sketch according to several options.

 Find Next Highlights the next occurrence - if any - of the string specified as the

search item in the Find window, relative to the cursor position.

 Find Previous Highlights the previous occurrence - if any - of the string specified

as the search item in the Find window relative to the cursor position.

Sketch

 Verify/Compile Checks your sketch for errors compiling it; it will report memory

usage for code and variables in the console area.

 Upload Compiles and loads the binary file onto the configured board through the

configured Port.

 Upload Using Programmer This will overwrite the bootloader on the board; you

will need to use Tools > Burn Bootloader to restore it and be able to Upload to USB

serial port again. However, it allows you to use the full capacity of the Flash memory

for your sketch. Please note that this command will NOT burn the fuses. To do so a

Tools -> Burn Bootloader command must be executed.

  Export Compiled Binary Saves a .hex file that may be kept as archive or sent to

the board using other tools.

 Show Sketch Folder Opens the current sketch folder.

 Include Library Adds a library to your sketch by inserting #include statements at

the start of your code. For more details, see libraries below. Additionally, from this

menu item you can access the Library Manager and import new libraries from .zip

files.

 Add File... Adds a supplemental file to the sketch (it will be copied from its

current location). The file is saved to the data subfolder of the sketch, which is

intended for assets such as documentation. The contents of the data folder are not

compiled, so they do not become part of the sketch program.

Tools

 Auto Format This formats your code nicely: i.e. indents it so that opening and

closing curly braces line up, and that the statements inside curly braces are indented

more.

 Archive Sketch Archives a copy of the current sketch in .zip format. The archive is

placed in the same directory as the sketch.

 Fix Encoding & Reload Fixes possible discrepancies between the editor char map

encoding and other operating systems char maps.

  Serial Monitor Opens the serial monitor window and initiates the exchange of

data with any connected board on the currently selected Port. This usually resets the

board, if the board supports Reset over serial port opening.

 Board Select the board that you're using. See below for descriptions of the various

boards.

 Port This menu contains all the serial devices (real or virtual) on your machine. It

should automatically refresh every time you open the top-level tools menu.

 Programmer For selecting a hardware programmer when programming a board or

chip and not using the onboard USB-serial connection. Normally you won't need this,

but if you're burning a bootloader to a new microcontroller, you will use this.

 Burn Bootloader The items in this menu allow you to burn a bootloader onto the

microcontroller on an Arduino board. This is not required for normal use of an

Arduino board but is useful if you purchase a new ATmega microcontroller (which

normally come without a bootloader). Ensure that you've selected the correct board

from the Boards menu before burning the bootloader on the target board. This

command also set the right fuses.

Help

Here you find easy access to a number of documents that come with the Arduino Software

(IDE). You have access to Getting Started, Reference, this guide to the IDE and other documents
locally, without an internet connection. The documents are a local copy of the online ones and

may link back to our online website.

 Find in Reference This is the only interactive function of the Help menu: it

directly selects the relevant page in the local copy of the Reference for the function or

command under the cursor.

Sketchbook

The Arduino Software (IDE) uses the concept of a sketchbook: a standard place to store your

programs (or sketches). The sketches in your sketchbook can be opened from the File >

Sketchbook menu or from the Open button on the toolbar. The first time you run the Arduino

software, it will automatically create a directory for your sketchbook. You can view or change

the location of the sketchbook location from with the Preferences dialog.

Beginning with version 1.0, files are saved with a .ino file extension. Previous versions use

the .pde extension. You may still open. pde named files in version 1.0 and later, the

software will automatically rename the extension to .ino.

Tabs, Multiple Files, and Compilation

Allows you to manage sketches with more than one file (each of which appears in its own tab).

These can be normal Arduino code files (no visible extension), C files (.c extension), C++ files

(.cpp), or header files (.h).

Before compiling the sketch, all the normal Arduino code files of the sketch (.ino, .pde) are

concatenated into a single file following the order the tabs are shown in. The other file types are

left as is.

Uploading

Before uploading your sketch, you need to select the correct items from the Tools > Board and

Tools > Port menus. The boards are described below. On the Mac, the serial port is probably

something like /dev/tty.usbmodem241 (for an Uno or Mega2560 or Leonardo) or

/dev/tty.usbserial-1B1 (for a Duemilanove or earlier USB board), or

/dev/tty.USA19QW1b1P1.1 (for a serial board connected with a Keyspan USB-to-Serial

adapter). On Windows, it's probably COM1 or COM2 (for a serial board) or COM4, COM5,

COM7, or higher (for a USB board) - to find out, you look for USB serial device in the ports

section of the Windows Device Manager. On Linux, it should be /dev/ttyACMx , /dev/ttyUSBx

or similar. Once you've selected the correct serial port and board, press the upload button in the

toolbar or select the Upload item from the Sketch menu. Current Arduino boards will reset
automatically and begin the upload. With older boards (pre-Diecimila) that lack auto-reset, you'll

need to press the reset button on the board just before starting the upload. On most boards, you'll

see the RX and TX LEDs blink as the sketch is uploaded. The Arduino Software (IDE) will

display a message when the upload is complete, or show an error.

When you upload a sketch, you're using the Arduino bootloader, a small program that has been

loaded on to the microcontroller on your board. It allows you to upload code without using any

additional hardware. The bootloader is active for a few seconds when the board resets; then it

starts whichever sketch was most recently uploaded to the microcontroller. The bootloader will

blink the on-board (pin 13) LED when it starts (i.e. when the board resets).

Libraries

Libraries provide extra functionality for use in sketches, e.g. working with hardware or

manipulating data. To use a library in a sketch, select it from the Sketch > Import Library

menu. This will insert one or more #include statements at the top of the sketch and compile the

library with your sketch. Because libraries are uploaded to the board with your sketch, they

increase the amount of space it takes up. If a sketch no longer needs a library, simply delete its

#include statements from the top of your code.

There is a list of libraries in the reference. Some libraries are included with the Arduino software.

Others can be downloaded from a variety of sources or through the Library Manager. Starting

with version 1.0.5 of the IDE, you do can import a library from a zip file and use it in an open

sketch. See these instructions for installing a third-party library.

To write your own library, see this tutorial.

Third-Party Hardware

Support for third-party hardware can be added to the hardware directory of your sketchbook

directory. Platforms installed there may include board definitions (which appear in the board

menu), core libraries, bootloaders, and programmer definitions. To install, create the hardware

directory, then unzip the third-party platform into its own sub-directory. (Don't use "arduino" as

the sub-directory name or you'll override the built-in Arduino platform.) To uninstall, simply

delete its directory.

For details on creating packages for third-party hardware, see the Arduino Platform specification.

Serial Monitor

This displays serial sent from the Arduino board over USB or serial connector. To send data to

the board, enter text and click on the "send" button or press enter. Choose the baud rate from the

drop-down menu that matches the rate passed to Serial.begin in your sketch. Note that on

Windows, Mac or Linux the board will reset (it will rerun your sketch) when you connect with

the serial monitor. Please note that the Serial Monitor does not process control characters; if your

sketch needs a complete management of the serial communication with control characters, you
can use an external terminal program and connect it to the COM port assigned to your Arduino

board.

You can also talk to the board from Processing, Flash, MaxMSP, etc (see the interfacing page for

details).

Preferences

Some preferences can be set in the preferences dialog (found under the Arduino menu on the

Mac, or File on Windows and Linux). The rest can be found in the preferences file, whose

location is shown in the preference dialog.

Language Support

Since version 1.0.1 , the Arduino Software (IDE) has been translated into 30+ different

languages. By default, the IDE loads in the language selected by your operating system. (Note:

on Windows and possibly Linux, this is determined by the locale setting which controls currency

and date formats, not by the language the operating system is displayed in.)

If you would like to change the language manually, start the Arduino Software (IDE) and open

the Preferences window. Next to the Editor Language there is a dropdown menu of currently

supported languages. Select your preferred language from the menu, and restart the software to
use the selected language. If your operating system language is not supported, the Arduino

Software (IDE) will default to English.

You can return the software to its default setting of selecting its language based on your

operating system by selecting System Default from the Editor Language drop-down. This

setting will take effect when you restart the Arduino Software (IDE). Similarly, after changing

your operating system's settings, you must restart the Arduino Software (IDE) to update it to the

new default language.

Boards

The board selection has two effects: it sets the parameters (e.g. CPU speed and baud rate) used

when compiling and uploading sketches; and sets and the file and fuse settings used by the burn

bootloader command. Some of the board definitions differ only in the latter, so even if you've

been uploading successfully with a particular selection, you'll want to check it before burning the

bootloader. You can find a comparison table between the various boards here.

Arduino Software (IDE) includes the built-in support for the boards in the following list, all

based on the AVR Core. The Boards Manager included in the standard installation allows to add

support for the growing number of new boards based on different cores like Arduino Due,

Arduino Zero, Edison, Galileo and so on.

 Arduino Yún An ATmega32u4 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 12 Analog In,

20 Digital I/O and 7 PWM.

 Arduino Uno An ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 6 Analog In,

14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 Arduino Diecimila or Duemilanove w/ ATmega168 An ATmega168 running at 16

MHz with auto-reset.

 Arduino Nano w/ ATmega328P An ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-

reset. Has eight analog inputs.

 Arduino Mega 2560 An ATmega2560 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 16

Analog In, 54 Digital I/O and 15 PWM.

 Arduino Mega an ATmega1280 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 16 Analog In,

54 Digital I/O and 15 PWM.

 Arduino Mega ADK an ATmega2560 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 16

Analog In, 54 Digital I/O and 15 PWM.

 Arduino Leonardo An ATmega32u4 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 12

Analog In, 20 Digital I/O and 7 PWM.

 Arduino Micro an ATmega32u4 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 12 Analog

In, 20 Digital I/O and 7 PWM.

 Arduino Esplora An ATmega32u4 running at 16 MHz with auto-reset.

 Arduino Mini w/ ATmega328P An ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-

reset, 8 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 Arduino Ethernet Equivalent to Arduino UNO with an Ethernet shield: An

ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-reset, 6 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O and 6

PWM.

 Arduino Fio An ATmega328P running at 8 MHz with auto-reset. Equivalent to

Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (3.3V, 8 MHz) w/ ATmega328P, 6 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O

and 6 PWM.

 Arduino BT w/ ATmega328P ATmega328P running at 16 MHz. The bootloader

burned (4 KB) includes codes to initialize the on-board bluetooth module, 6 Analog

In, 14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 LilyPad Arduino USB an ATmega32u4 running at 8 MHz with auto-reset, 4

Analog In, 9 Digital I/O and 4 PWM.

 LilyPad Arduino An ATmega168 or ATmega132 running at 8 MHz with auto-

reset, 6 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (5V, 16 MHz) w/ ATmega328P An ATmega328P

running at 16 MHz with auto-reset. Equivalent to Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w/

ATmega328P; 6 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 Arduino NG or older w/ ATmega168 An ATmega168 running at 16 MHzwithout

auto-reset. Compilation and upload is equivalent to Arduino Diecimila or

Duemilanove w/ ATmega168, but the bootloader burned has a slower timeout (and

blinks the pin 13 LED three times on reset); 6 Analog In, 14 Digital I/O and 6 PWM.

 Arduino Robot Control an ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-reset.

 Arduino Robot Motor an ATmega328P running at 16 MHz with auto-reset.

 Arduino Gemma An ATtiny85 running at 8 MHz with auto-reset, 1 Analog In, 3

Digital I/O and 2 PWM.