Planet Arduino

Today’s makers have access to the most advanced materials, resources, and support in history, and it’s improving all the time. The downside is that finding the right software can sometimes feel confusing and overwhelming. There are seemingly endless options, all with different attributes and advantages.

In this article, we’re here to help make things easier. We’ll walk you through the best software for makers at each experience level — beginner, intermediate, and expert — and help you identify the right software for your needs.

The best maker software for each experience level

Beginner-level software

If you’re new to the world of making, you’ll likely have some specific needs and requirements that won’t apply to more experienced folks.

For example, you’ll want software that’s forgiving and beginner-friendly, that comes with more opportunities to learn the basics, and is easy enough that you won’t be discouraged from making.

With that in mind, here are our top picks for the best beginner-level maker software.

Arduino IDE

Arduino is one of the most well-established and well-known platforms for makers of all levels. Arduino’s microcontrollers allow you to program projects with your own custom code, creating gadgets that work exactly the way you want them to.

If you’re new to the game, you’ll want to start with a microcontroller that’s suitable for beginners. The Arduino IDE is perfect for this: it’s free, user-friendly, and leverages a simplified version of the C/C++ programming languages so you can learn the basics in a fun and rewarding way.

TinkerCAD

Since it first came onto the scene in 2011, TinkerCAD has been a great choice for beginners looking to get started with making their own projects.

As a CAD (computer-aided design) software, TinkerCAD is a fantastic tool for designers and can be used to create models for 3D printing. 

Due to its beginner-friendly nature, TinkerCAD is often used in schools to help learners get to grips with basic coding and design, building their own elementary tech projects. It’s also completely free of charge.

The advantage of using TinkerCAD is that it also contains a simple circuit designer and visual code tool useful to generate the code for Arduino boards.

Intermediate-level software 

Once you’ve learned the basics of making, you’ll likely be craving some more challenging and stimulating projects.

Taking your coding skills to the next level requires more sophisticated software, allowing you to be more adventurous and ambitious with your plans. The good news is that there is plenty of software out there for intermediate makers. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Python

Python is one of the most well-known programming languages out there, and it’s compatible with most maker-friendly platforms and microcontrollers.

Python works well with Arduino hardware, and is especially well-suited for projects that use sensors and other components. You don’t need to be a coding wizard to start using Python in this way, but you will need some familiarity and experience.

Check out this project — a Nicla Vision-based fire detector built by Arduino user Shakhizat Nurgaliyev using Python. Shakhizat created an entirely generated dataset and then trained a model on that data to detect fires.

MicroPython

MicroPython is an experimental, lean, and lightweight implementation of the programming language Python, and it’s designed specifically to be used with microcontrollers.

This makes it ideal for use with Arduino projects, and it works especially well with those that use sensors and similar components. MicroPython does require a base of coding knowledge to use, but you don’t need to be an expert.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code, often abbreviated as VS Code, is an open-source editor created by Microsoft that is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS. 

It offers a range of features such as debugging support, syntax highlighting, smart code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and integrated Git functionality. Visual Studio Code can be used to develop code for Arduino boards, and, by using the available extensions, you can upload code directly to the Arduino boards.

Node-RED

Node-RED is built to bring hardware devices, software, and online services together, creating ever more interesting and advanced projects.

It works especially well with IoT projects — and is a great choice if you want to integrate platforms like Arduino with other devices to build your own custom designs for use in your home.

Node-RED’s browser-based editor and built-in library make it a powerful tool for those with some coding experience to make new projects.

Arduino’s Portenta X8 can host a Node-RED instance running it on a container, making it easy to connect and integrate several different services, either locally or online with Arduino Cloud or third-party software. 

In this project, David Beamonte used Node-RED and Arduino Cloud, to integrate a TP-Link smart Wi-Fi plug with other projects. This way, they were able to link multiple smart home devices together and control them from one central hub.

Expert-level software

Are you a true veteran of making and coding? Fluent in more programming languages than you can remember, with a host of impressive projects under your belt and a slot at next year’s Maker Faire?

If so, you have the skills to achieve some truly exciting things. Let’s take a look at the software available for expert-level makers.

MATLAB

MATLAB is an advanced piece of software that works well with Arduino hardware and similar products. 

It’s especially useful when building projects that require data analysis and complex, large-scale computations. Proficiency in MATLAB can lead to some truly impressive creations, but it takes a solid amount of experience and skill to realize those results.

Arduino users MadhuGovindarajan and ssalunkhe used MATLAB to build their very own lane-following rover. The project used the rover from Arduino’s Engineering Kit, combined with an algorithm that allows the rover to stay within a designated lane while driving.

The Arduino Engineering kit contains three different projects that involve physical hardware and MATLAB/Simulink to create amazing results. 

C/C++ IDEs

The programming languages C and C++ have been around for decades, underpinning the worlds of computer science and software engineering.

If you have a solid base of coding ability, you can use C/C++ development environments to program Arduino boards and create ever more advanced and impressive projects.

Other resources

GitHub

Do you want to share your code with your mates, or with the world? 

If so, GitHub is the perfect place to do it. It’s an open-source community with multiple contributors and lots of integrations with developer-oriented software. 

Inside, you’ll find more than 300 million projects, known as repos. Makers use the platform to share their work, but it can also be useful to take a look and draw inspiration from the trending repositories.

AI/ML

AI is making headlines all over the world, but it extends far beyond ChatGPT.

Makers today have access to a wealth of fantastic tools to speed up work, correct errors, and document your shiny new code. Check out GitHub copilot and OpenAI Codex to get started.

Using software with Arduino

By combining the right software tools with Arduino’s products, you have the perfect recipe for your next awesome project.

If you want to gain inspiration, or share your own work with our community, check out the Arduino Project Hub where you can search for projects and filter by type and difficulty level.

The post The best maker software by experience level appeared first on Arduino Blog.

In a recent post, I talked about using the “Blue Pill” STM32 module with the Arduino IDE. I’m not a big fan of the Arduino IDE, but I will admit it is simple to use which makes it good for simple things.

I’m not a big fan of integrated development environments (IDE), in general. I’ve used plenty of them, especially when they are tightly tied to the tool I’m trying to use at the time. But when I’m not doing anything special, I tend to just write my code in emacs. Thinking about it, I suppose I really don’t mind an IDE if it has tools that actually help me. But if it is just a text editor and launches a few commands, I can do that from emacs or another editor of my choice. The chances that your favorite IDE is going to have as much editing capability and customization as emacs are close to zero. Even if you don’t like emacs, why learn another editor if there isn’t a clear benefit in doing so?

There are ways, of course, to use other tools with the Arduino and other frameworks and I decided to start looking at them. After all, how hard can it be to build Arduino code? If you want to jump straight to the punch line, you can check out the video, below.

Turns Out…

It turns out, the Arduino IDE does a lot more than providing a bare-bones editor and launching a few command line tools. It also manages a very convoluted build process. The build process joins a lot of your files together, adds headers based on what it thinks you are doing, and generally compiles one big file, unless you’ve expressly included .cpp or .c files in your build.

That means just copying your normal Arduino code (I hate to say sketch) doesn’t give you anything you can build with a normal compiler. While there are plenty of makefile-based solutions, there’s also a tool called PlatformIO that purports to be a general-purpose solution for building on lots of embedded platforms, including Arduino.

About PlatformIO

Although PlatformIO claims to be an IDE, it really is a plugin for the open source Atom editor. However, it also has plugins for a lot of other IDEs. Interestingly enough, it even supports emacs. I know not everyone appreciates emacs, so I decided to investigate some of the other options. I’m not talking about VIM, either.

I wound up experimenting with two IDEs: Atom and Microsoft Visual Studio Code. Since PlatformIO has their 2.0 version in preview, I decided to try it. You might be surprised that I’m using Microsoft’s Code tool. Surprisingly, it runs on Linux and supports many things through plugins, including an Arduino module and, of course, PlatformIO. It is even available as source under an MIT license. The two editors actually look a lot alike, as you can see.

PlatformIO supports a staggering number of boards ranging from Arduino to ESP82666 to mBed boards to Raspberry Pi. It also supports different frameworks and IDEs. If you are like me and just like to be at the command line, you can use PlatformIO Core which is command line-driven.

In fact, that’s one of the things you first notice about PlatformIO is that it can’t decide if it is a GUI tool or a command line tool. I suspect some of that is in the IDE choice, too. For example, with Code, you have to run the projection initialization tool in a shell prompt. Granted, you can open a shell inside Code, but it is still a command line. Even on the PlatformIO IDE (actually, Atom), changing the Blue Pill framework from Arduino to mBed requires opening an INI file and changing it. Setting the upload path for an FRDM-KL46 required the same sort of change.

Is it Easy?

Don’t get me wrong. I personally don’t mind editing a file or issuing a command from a prompt. However, it seems like this kind of tool will mostly appeal to someone who does. I like that the command line tools exist. But it does make it seem odd when some changes are done in a GUI and some are done from the command line.

That’s fixable, of course. However, I do have another complaint that I feel bad for voicing because I don’t have a better solution. PlatformIO does too much. In theory, that’s the strength of it. I can write my code and not care how the mBed libraries or written or the Arduino tools munge my source code. I don’t even have to set up a tool chain because PlatformIO downloads everything I need the first time I use it.

When that works it is really great. The problem is when it doesn’t. For example, on the older version of PlatformIO, I had trouble getting the mBed libraries to build for a different target. I dug around and found the issue but it wasn’t easy. Had I built the toolchain and been in control of the process, I would have known better how to troubleshoot.

In the end, too, you will have to troubleshoot. PlatformIO aims at moving targets. Every time the Arduino IDE or the mBed frameworks or anything else changes, there is a good chance it will break something. When it does, you are going to have to work to fix it until the developers fix it for you. If you can do that, it is a cost in time. But I suspect the people who will be most interested in PlatformIO will be least able to fix it when it breaks.

Bottom Line

If you want to experiment with a different way of building programs — and more importantly, a single way to create and build — you should give PlatformIO a spin. When it works, it works well. Here are a few links to get you started:

• The PlatformIO IDE (requires Atom)
• PlatformIO Core (not needed if you install an IDE package)
• Visual Studio Code (install PlatformIO from within the IDE)

Bottom line, when it works, it works great. When it doesn’t it is painful. Should you use it? It is handy, there’s no doubt about that. The integration with Code is pretty minimal. The Atom integration — while not perfect — is much more seamless. However, if you learn to use the command line tools, it almost doesn’t matter. Use whatever editor you like, and I do like that. If you do use it, just hope it doesn’t break and maybe have a backup plan if it does.

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, ARM, Hackaday Columns, reviews, Skills