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  • Author Author: clem57
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What can be better than this?

clem57

Software at its best?

 

  • Tired of those Gigabyte downloads taking up bandwidth and time.

  • Working on one computer for development while the other is connected to target machine.

  • On the run and wishing you could fix one line of code because of the ah ha moment.

  • Just finished the 100 lines of code update that went bad and wished you could go back to before.

  • Wanted to share a great code, but left it on the other computer.

     Well have I got the answer for you. I know this sounds like a used car salesman, but hear me out. Too many software vendors want give or sell their IDE or code development methodology which can be anything from good to ugh why did I ever start this. The secret lies in a true portable IDE using the internet.  Are you ready?

 

                                                  ARM mbed

 

Feature list:


      1)  A fully functional IDE. After login, you are presented with a workspace with a tree on the left for navigation and room on the right showing details of the highlighted item on the tree. In the center is your work environment. If you do not like the editor, no problem just cut and paste changes into the work space.

 

     2)  A list of supported hardware from many vendors like STM, Freescale, IBM, and more. The libraries and documentation is fairly good and growing. After a short sign up process, you are on. Best yet, it is free.

 

     3)  And a built in version control system is available by default. To compile is simple a click of a button with messages going to a small window below. On successful compile a download window appears to load the binary to your computer or to a connected target computer directly like the K64F from Freescale. That is slicker than Arduino in my opinion. With a little #define with a date embedded in the binary,  you can stamp the binary with version control information to match your source. Slick?

 

     4)  To share code is a snap since you can publish as you wish. All your code is unpublished as a default. Since it is web enabled, just send the URL. Also team programming is available for you and your friends.

 

                                                 

                                                                     

 

That is it for now. If I see much interest, I could do some tutorials with videos. Please drop a like/comment to express your thoughts.

image

Thank you,

Clem

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I've had an mbed lpc1764 for a few years now and at first hated the online compiler, it took a while for me to get past the blockage I had in my head about not fully being in control of my own code storage but once I did get past it, the system is very useful and of course, there's no linking or toolchain needed, it's all done for you.

     

    Anything that I do produce there, I also copy and save the source code locally. It just feels more comfortable to keep my own copy (even though their servers are probably better equipped to recover data in the event of loss).

     

    It's something that people should give a try but I do wish there was an application that could be utilised offline, it's just where my comfort zone is...as i'm sure is the reason that puts most people off mbed devices.

     

     

    Lucie

  • in reply to xever

    You may use an offline editor. But true an internet connection is needed for compile. But for most this is not bad in a day with cell phones and the such.

    Clem

  • Very good quick round up of mbed.  Don't want to burst any bubbles and have tried this in the past and felt the IDE has great concepts but a bit clunky and doesn't scale nicely on some displays.  Another downside is it doesn't have offline capability ready to compile a code during an aha moment but there is no internet connection.   Still, I think it's worth a try especially that there a number of code recipes available, could be a good starting point for enthusiasts.

     

    qrys

  • in reply to DAB

    If you are doing IP work, you can build an object outside the platform and add to the project as binary like the way MBED includes their own libraries. They hide the source from prying eyes. BTW, they do provide an API to work outside the web using Python. I could document that if interest is keen.

    Thanks DAB for your views,

    Clem

  • Hi Clem,

     

    I was aware of this capability, but I should caution everyone.  If you use this online capability, you will lose control of your IP.image

     

    So as long as you are doing projects to share, no problem.

     

    However if you are doing a project for profit, avoid these capabilities at all cost.

     

    Just a thought,

     

    DAB