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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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MicroPython officially becomes part of the Arduino ecosystem

ralphjy

I just noticed this on the official arduino blog - Micropython Officially Becomes Part of the Arduino Ecosystem.

I've used OpenMV with my Potenta H7 and Nicla Vision, so it's nice to see that Arduino is going to support Micropython in their ecosystem.

They have a new IDE - Arduino Lab for MicroPython that provides a REPL interface to the boards.

image

Still experimental, but looks promising.  I'm currently traveling, but I'll have to give this a try when I get home...

  • in reply to mp2100

    >But what features does this add to Arduino?

    I think it will make it easier for beginners to use, once enough samples and libraries have been ported.
    The easier memory management will make a difference for sure.

    In general I find Python a bit more relaxing to build with than C, and that might just be because C has been "work" for most of my career!
    That said, the level of C used in Arduino sketches tends to be fairly easy.

    I wonder if it will be limited to the newer faster chips though.

  • in reply to mp2100

    I haven't used MicroPython much.  I started to use it for imaging with the OpenMV IDE and the OpenMV Cam H7.  And more recently with the Portenta and Nicla Vision.  The benefit to me (like with the Arduino C IDE) are the libraries and examples.  I like Python although I know that there are limitations to MicroPython.  In most cases I'm okay with some loss of performance if I can still get the functionality of the more recent versions of regular Python  It will be interesting to see how well the Arduino implementation works.

    I've seen a lot of examples using Adafruit's CircuitPython for their sensors and more recently using MicroPython with the RPi Pico.

  • I have seen these announcements. I'm just not sure what to think of it.  Arduino has been around for so long with it's own version of C.  There are so many helpful examples of Arduino sketches available.  Why add micropython?  It's great to have options, yes.  I like python.  But what features does this add to Arduino?