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  • Author Author: colporteur
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What is your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of choice for Arduino?

colporteur

I like to revisit this question from time to time to see what is new and could bring about a change. Knowing the community's broad user base, I thought it would be a good place to ask. Maybe a poll would have been a better tool to gather responses. I busy cooking burgers on the BBQ so I don't have time to learn how to do that again.

I have been using the IDE from Arduino. I am using version 1.8.19 and haven't built up the courage to upgrade to the latest version. It works! What more can I ask for?

I was using PlatformIO but found the learning curve or better remember how to perform tasks difficult. It seemed every time I needed an library I had to break out the books to learn how to do it.  I find if I don't use an application on a regular basis I forget. I'm not a programmer. What I have learned about programming is through system administration. 

I recently read an article on Arduino for Visual Studio Code. After four hours of investment, I abandoned the exercise. I failed to find a clear concise instruction set to configure the environment. I never did find how to load an external library. I spent an hour just trying to get the c_cpp_properties.json configuration file setup without errors. There were google posts on setup but nothing for Linux.

  • What is your go-to IDE for Arduino programming?
  • What do you classify your programming experience level.? Novice, Intermediate or Expert.
  • What makes the program ideal for you?
  • Would you recommend it and to what experience level?
  • What operating system are you using the program on?

I have a big Arduino project that can use the support of a good IDE. I am back to exploring PlatformIO on VSC. It offered some programming support I can definitely use. Maybe your suggestion might lead me down another path. Look forward to your responses.


  • 1. What is your go-to IDE for Arduino programming?

    Arduino v1.8.16 all the way.

    I've only yesterday downloaded the Linux AppImage and set up the new version 2.0.0.

    It was very straightforward, although I felt Arduino.cc should really have included a migration guide on their website. For example, if you have custom boards, like ESP32 boards, loaded in Arduino v1.8.xx then they are automatically included in Arduino 2.0.0 as the new version uses the same hardware folder. However, the board manager URL's shown in the old version are not transferred to the new version, so there's a small disconnect. Otherwise it feels very similar with added benefits, although there's still a few niggles being new. E.g. discovered that the "burn bootloader" does not always work.


    2. What do you classify your programming experience level.? Novice, Intermediate or Expert.

    Expert


    3. What makes the program ideal for you?

    You don't ever have to deal with toolchain setup and compiler directive issues.

    The library manager setup is class. I really like the online menu option and how it handles updates. The new version 2.0 now allows you to jump in a see the code of the function you are looking at. This is really good as this was a pain with the previous version.

    It has taught me to think before coding and not being so heavily reliant on a debugger as when I first started out not really knowing what I was doing.


    4. Would you recommend it and to what experience level?

    YES for all levels. I view Arduino IDE as my go-to IDE for all prototype developments as it is so quick to get up and running. Once you've the basics done you can always migrate to another IDE later when your application gets more complex. Although with version 2, this should not necessarily be necessary - but this assertion is a hunch at the moment.


    5. What operating system are you using the program on?

    Linux OS version 20.04.

  • For.most things, I would use the standard IDE, but I have dabbled with the new version 2 and that’s quite good.  For complex projects, like the ICB I’m building I’ve gone with PlatformIO with VSC; it is more complicated and not necessary for simpler projects but I’m an expert developer (not in C) so I can generally tell what a problem is related to and/or how to word an effective Google search.  Like you, anyone I would hazard a guess, if I don’t use a program often enough it takes me a while to get back into it.  

    I do like the Arduino libraries as it’s possible to learn a bit about the vagaries of C/C++ but I often find myself ‘simplifying’ them for my purpose, esp. when memory is tight.  I’m sure a lot of C code is written in a “look at how clever I am” manner, rather than a “written to clearly understand’ one.  Maybe that’s just my lack of expertise showing!

  • I live by the Arduino IDE,but had a road test using simulink to program Arduino and was pretty awesome. Had Mathcad/simulink had a freeware version, I'd use it for higher level control projects.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Thanks JC. Some of your comments ring a cord with me. Ease of use for a snakes and shoots type programmer like me is ideal. I'm the guy that has to land on the big snake of lost knowledge and go back to the beginning of every game.