Actions
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 65 replies
  • Subscribers 602 subscribers
  • Views 3665 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

Share A Design Tip to be included in our next Engineers eBook

jwatson

Let your fellow makers in on your design secrets here!

 

Have you found a solution to a common design problem?  Have you found an easier / cheaper way to do something?

 

Share your ideas with us for your chance to have your tip appear in Premier Farnell's edition of ebooks.

 

It’s your opportunity to share with your peers and promote your ideas or business at the same time.

Of course, please steer away from the obvious or too simple, such as ‘if you are writing software, take backups, OR drill holes this way instead of that way’.

 

We would like to create an ebook to provide both inspiration and assistance that help readers create interesting and fun projects, whether they are trying to kickstart a business or simply developing something for their own home.

 

Here’s some topics to get you thinking:

  • Using Maker boards – how do you get boards to do what you need, or configure boards to give you the inputs or outputs to do something cool?
  • Using Sensors – ideas for collecting information about what’s happening in the world, whether it’s temperature data or interfacing a camera...
  • Robotics and Controls – how do you control motors and movement? Ideas for making robots or simply just controlling a motor to close your curtains..
  • Displays – some boards have built-in displays, while don’t others? What are your best tips for displaying information in your projects?
  • IoT and Connectivity – soon almost everything will be connected, so tell us how you make it easier to get connected to the internet and transfer data...
  • Software development – what are your tips for writing better software, or just overcoming specific challenges? Show off your software expertise...
  • Just for fun – perhaps you’ve had a great idea for a new way of doing things, but aren’t sure if there are any serious uses. Tell us about your less serious tips and ideas!

 

We’re looking for tips of around 40 to 50 words with a simple diagram or image. 

 

Share your ideas as a comment on this discussion and we will be in touch with you to let you know if your tip will be included in the next edition of ebooks.

Parents

  • Software

    I'm a hardware person but have dabbled in the dark side of programming.

     

    I find it helpful to save the sketch/program with the date and time as part of the name on a regular basis.

    If you end up with it not going the way you want, you can always pull up an earlier version and cut and paste to get you back on track.

     

    Mark

Reply

  • Software

    I'm a hardware person but have dabbled in the dark side of programming.

     

    I find it helpful to save the sketch/program with the date and time as part of the name on a regular basis.

    If you end up with it not going the way you want, you can always pull up an earlier version and cut and paste to get you back on track.

     

    Mark

Children
  • in reply to mcb1

    Mark wrote: I find it helpful to save the sketch/program with the date and time as part of the name on a regular basis.

     

    Second that. The first thing they taught us in "software school" was: Keep backups!

     

    If your project consists of more than one file, compress/zip the whole folder and name the zip file as Mark suggested.

     

    -Nico

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Nico teWinkel wrote:

     

    Mark wrote: I find it helpful to save the sketch/program with the date and time as part of the name on a regular basis.

     

    Second that. The first thing they taught us in "software school" was: Keep backups!

     

    If your project consists of more than one file, compress/zip the whole folder and name the zip file as Mark suggested.

     

    -Nico

    I agree with the need of backups. However, all modern IDEs support some kind of a version control and a proper setting and usage can save you even more headaches.

    It only consumes a fraction of space, especially compared the whole project / workspace zip files. All version control systems can be used without an IDE, of course.

  • in reply to koudelad

    all modern IDEs support some kind of a version control

     

    Agreed, and I love being able to easily spot the changes I've made in a file.

    Others I've talked to are even using a Raspberry Pi as their own personal Git server, which is cool and convenient.

     

    But for beginners that's yet another step to learn. Plus I don't think Arduino has it fully integrated yet.

     

    Also it's easy to set up your home with automatic backup software like Apple's Time Machine.

     

    Still, it's super easy to just zip up your project folder every so often, and it's super easy to unzip in case of need. You don't need to keep all the backups and compared to songs and videos most projects are tiny, so space really isn't an issue.

     

    Cheers,

    -Nico

  • in reply to koudelad

    However, all modern IDEs support some kind of a version control

    A more true statement might be " ... However, some modern IDEs support some kind of a version control ...."

     

    While many IDE's might have the ability it is not much use if they are on the hard drive that just died, or the laptop that just got stolen.

     

    I look at it as an education thing, a bit like looking both ways before you cross the road REGARDLESS if you know there are no cars, bikes, truck, or other objects.

    Once you're in the habit of saving data you'll check to see it is in place, and probably never need it.

     

    Mark

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Don't keep all your eggs (backups) in the same basket (or location)!

  • in reply to COMPACT

    Good point about location - Dropbox and Google Drive are good for offsite backup.

  • in reply to mcb1

    There are pros and cons to using this method that others have brought up. Should you go this route my recomendation is to do a Save As before making changes to a file so you don't accidentally make changes and overwrite the previous version. When versiong by date, as I called it, I would use a yymmdd format and put it in front of the name so that the file names sort and stay together nicely.

     

    Example. File name is MyFileName.docx:

    SaveAs name: 200408MyFileName.docx