What is the best way to learn how to program an Arduino?

Hello Slayton Blood,

The best way to learn how to program an Arduino is to try and program an Arduino. The first question is: do you have an Arduino to program?  If so, which one?

The second question is: Do you know anyone else that knows how to program an Arduino that can help you?  If so, then ask them.

If not, find someone.  Obviously you are on this site to find someone to help you, but you haven't said what you need.

Have you installed the Arduino programming software yet?  Have you tried to run an example program? 

blood_hound  wrote:

 

I've taken online tutorials and all kinds of stuff to help me learn how to program the Arudino, but they haven't helped. If you have anything that will help me, PLEASE reply. Thank you!

We don't know what "all kinds of stuff" means, so ask specific questions if you want specific answers.

Scott

1. Yes, I do have an Arduino, it is the Arduino uno r3 and the Arduino nano.

2. No, I don't know anyone else that knows how to program the Arduino.

3. Yes, I've installed the Arduino software.

4. Yes, I've tried examples, but they didn't help.

What I mean by "all kinds of stuff" is that I've tried learning through online classes, YouTube videos, and just scrolling through the internet. I just want help on the basics so I can start making things.

Perhaps tell us some more ?

What specifically are you having problems with ?

Is it Arduino or is it programming you are finding difficult ?

Are you able to follow along with / complete tutorials but just not understand them ?

Have you looked at any of Jeremy Blum's tutorials ?

Jeremy Blum Arduino Tutorials 

He also has a book and more videos oh his web site.

The Arduino Cookbook is a great resource if you want to see code snippets to work with different IO devices.

Arduino Cookbook, 2nd Edition - O'Reilly Media

What sort of stuff are you trying to make ?

Like beacon_dave says, some more information is always helpful and there are many members of Element14 who are willing to help you along bit-by-bit (we've all been stuck on something at times ).

Make a blog post on Element14 (or by replying below to your own post) with what article you are trying to follow and then include plenty of photos, screen shots and description of how far you get....you'll get a response for sure that should gradually get you over each hurdle and as you do so hopefully you'll learn why you got stuck. Before too long you'll hopefully be building all sorts of great stuff.

Kits like the Sparkfun Inventors Kit are expensive but a quick way to learn basics.  I have used them to complete a beginner level course in one weekend.  If you can’t afford the kit then try going through the published workbook with what you have at hand and order or substitute other parts as you get them.

The best way though is to just try things. If you get stuck on something then ask a specific question that states what you are trying to do, what didn’t work, what you tried doing to resolve it, code used, parts used, and so on.  This will get better responses on the forum.

Frank

As well as the tips from Scott and Dave, it may be worth stepping back from it and getting familiarised with some C coding basics on a computer running Linux (e.g. Raspberry Pi).

C only has about 30 keywords, so it is possible to at least some gain familiarity with it within days.

I learned with "Problem Solving and Program Design in C" (no need to buy the latest edition, if older edition used copies are cheaper).

It is a foundation basically.

I'm only suggesting that book as an example, because that's what the place I studied at recommended, and I learned a lot from it, although there could be newer books out there that are just as good or better.

EDIT: It's as low-cost as $1.98 currently.. worth considering.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0321535421/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Frank said:

> Kits like the Sparkfun Inventors Kit are expensive but a quick way to learn basics.

I found the Oomlout Ardx tutorial helpful too, and it's not too expensive, especially if the parts are sourced separately.

http://oomlout.com/a/products/ardx/

Is it the understanding of circuitry that's a roadblock right now, or is it the programming part?

It looks like Khan Academy has more fundamental courses on both.

Circuitry: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering

Computer Programming: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming

I've been programming computers since the mid 80's (Apple II and the like), but I still find it helpful to sometimes take a step back and take a basic intro course to help get a better grip on things. If it's easy, just go through the courses faster.

One other thing I enjoyed when I got back into learning about circuitry was the 130-in-one type kits (also 120-in-one etc etc). They are basically a lot of components on a board, and you connect wires between springs to make circuits. The book that came with mine had a lot of good examples that showed not only which springs to connect, but also how that looked as a real circuit diagram, and explained how it all worked. The "130" stood for how many projects were included in the book.

I see you can still get them on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Elenco-Electronic-Playground-Learning-Center/dp/B0035XSZDI

Cheers,

-Nico

Do you fully understand the Blinky program, both the schematics and example code?

I am asking because that’s the basis program. Your answer can indicate what you’re struggling with.

Step one. Set a reachable goal for a weekend. I will try to change the blinky code to slow down for instance. Next add another LED. Play and learn but simple steps. Doing and learning go hand in hand.

Just my opinion here.