I want to purchase an arduino platform to learn programming. I am also interested in sensor & control applications. What Arduino platform would you recommend?

I personally prefer devices such as the Arduino Nano and Arduino Micro, because they can be directly mounted onto breadboard for easy prototyping.

I personally use a Leonardo and a few jumper leads to connect it to the breadboard. The keyboard emulation is helpful as you can set it up to "press" a keyboard key when a point in the code is reached for easy diagnostics without the trouble of using a serial port. It also has some extra io which is always nice. Do yourself a favour and buy an official arduino. The one clone that I bought came without a boot loader and died within a few minutes. In the end I just stripped it for the headers and USB port, leaving the rest in the scrap bin. The only floor in the Leonardo is that it occasionally needs a manual reset to get it to correctly upload a sketch, but this has only happens to me on 2 occasions. The Leonardo is also slightly cheaper than other boards. Finally, it has female headers, which I prefer for some reason.

Lowell,

              A couple of good replies and Samuel makes a good point about buying a Genuine Arduino.  I would agree for your first board and keep it as a master.  My experience with Clones has been very good in all the common variants, UNO R3, Mega R3,  Nano and Pro Micro.  To get you started I would by an UNO R3 along with a Sparkfun or similar base plate to which you can attach a breadboard.  This gives a nice little rig that holds the UNO and the breadboard securely and thus the connecting wires are not being continuous flexed.  If you are handy it is not hard to make such a board out of plastic or wood.

Personally I would not buy a kit or only a basic one if I did, I would start with the following:

A Light Dependent Resistor  (LDR) virtually ant LDR will do.

A Dallas 18B20 temperature sensor.

A LCD module.

An assortment of resistors, a few led's, a couple of switches, a 10K potentiometer and some breadboarding wires.

A lot of this stuff can be easily bought on Ebay.

There is loads of information on all these devices on the internet along with examples and libraries.

You can have loads of fun and learn a lot creating your own LCD display of light and temperature.

Finally if you like books buy or borrow 'Programming Arduino - Getting started with Sketches'  by Dr Simon Monk.  An excellent starter book.

Further reading is the brilliant 'Arduino Cookbook'  by Michael Margolis.

On top of that you have vast talent of the E14 Arduino community to tap into.

I hope that helps

Bob

Thank You for your help.

Are you a wealthy retired person or struggling student? ANY experience of electronics? Of programming?

In a perfect world, yes of course, a mainstream Arduino, etc.

But if you are just getting started, financially or into electronics/ programming, there are alternatives.

And, novices make mistakes (you CAN damage the thing.. don't be put off by that... but be careful) or decide "this isn't for me".

Yes, with a simple, or clone Arduino, you will encounter frustrations if you try big, fancy things. But you said you were a beginner.

But you can do the following with pretty much any Arduino or clone out there...

The "Hello World" programs everyone I know secretly have fun with, even when not just new: Button presses causing various effects with LEDs. (Don't dismiss that as trivial... make it a non-blocking app, with switch debouncing, and capable of recognizing SEQUENCES of button presses... I.e. the first button pressed requests a pattern, and the second sets a repeat speed... and the repeating sequence can be interrupted by a subsequent button press... as soon as the button is pressed. Etc, etc.)

Read multiple temperatures or light levels from SIMPLE sensors ($5ea MAX)... and display the values on the serial monitor built into the Arduino environment

Turn stuff on and off, e.g. domestic lights, motors, etc. Be sure to study how to SAFELY deal with things operating at household voltages (i.e. 110 VAC USA, 200+ many other places.) Controlling dangerous electricity for the hobbyist- ec1mains1

And lots, lots LOTS more.

(Tell us more about the sort of thing you want to do, and we can advise on "do-ability")

My point: To LEARN, and to do lots of basic things, you don't NEED a "standard" Arduino.

I agree with the "you don't need a kit" posts.

You DO need...

At least a modest modern multimeter. Digital. (The old fashioned ones with moving needles, unless expensive antiques, may well affect the things they are reading, when used in the modern microprocessor world. For a first meter, you don't need to spend more than $30

Several breadboards... What you need to "play" with Arduino- aht0YouNeed (That has other "what do I need" stuff, too.)

You may... or may NOT need a "fancy" ($18, or so) cable to connect Arduino to PC used to program it. In "the old days", you had a quandry to resolve. It is less of an issue today. Many of the Arduinos-and-clones out there today only need a "simple" USB cable, one that merely provides a physical connection... but are still inexpensive. (Once upon a time, having the USB circuits on the Arduino-or-clone was expensive.)

Soldering iron, diagonal cutters (nice delicate for-electroincs ones, not your old big ones), delicate pliars, THREE spools of solid wire(black, red, one other color (blue?).. the right wire to push into a breadboard)

Odds and ends... resistors, capacitors (maybe), momentary and (maybe) toggle switches (doorbell switches/ light switches... SPST)

A few sensors. LEDs. The right resistors to go with the LEDs... which raised another issue: Do you start with a 5v Arduino, or one of the 3.3v devices (3.3v is usually written 3v3)? I appeal to others to discuss the pros and cons there. Not the end of the world, for getting started, if you choose wrong.... especially if you take my advice, buy something inexpensive for your first Arduino.

Stay away from "shields" for the moment. And SPI. Walk befor you try to run! But fairly early on, USE some of the devices which take a serial signal, and drive a display for you, e.g. SerialToVGA. A great little interface board for microprocessors- SerialToVGA ... Learning serial is a bump on the learning curve, but it opens up a bunch of things for you. And, in spite of what I said about avioiding shields, SOME can be useful to a newbie... the ones that can be put on a second breadboard and connected to the non-standard-footprint Arduino-or-clone will a few pin-to-pin wires. Connected thus, you can't get confused (and hassled) by the shield using pins you didn't know it was using. And wnen you DO one day have a standard-footprint Arduino, you will be able to use the shield "the easy way".

Suppliers: I like Sparkfun, ModernDevice and Wulfden, all in the US. Hobbyelectronics.co.uk in the UK.

They all have "little" Arduinos-or-clones. Sadly, you just missed the annual Sparkfun sale... I picked up 4 of the nice Arduino Pro Mini 328 for $6. (List price $10... more than adequate for your first.) (Sparkfun do a nice comparison chart... although it could be easier to find!... https://www.sparkfun.com/arduino_guide)

As much as I love the new Teensy 3.1, I have to admit there are a few features of using that which make me reluctant to recommend it to someone just getting started. Nothing "wrong" with it... just a few extra steps between receiving your parcel and having the "Wink LED when I press button" program running. (Don't worry when you see "sketch" where many people would say "program". I've never figured out the distinction. Call it a bit of Arduino "color", until you know enough to appreciate whatever distinction some people feel they want to make.)

Guide to how to get started, once you have caught your Arduino:

First Steps, Arduino Programming- PLT1aa

(Yes... I've "advertised" a lot of my own pages here. I don't get any financial reward from them... but the work to create them is pretty wasted if no one ever hears of them. If you think any have merit, if you were to use the Facebook "Like" and Google+ buttons at the top of the page, I would be grateful, and also the next person who wants the info in them might find them more easily. Carefully editied, and periodically updated, refined (they are! really!) permanent pages will usually be more coherent than transient forum posts...)

Just a minor point, I'd avoid the 'powertail switch' at least for non-US region, last time we checked it was not approved for Europe as an example.

Also, it's unpleasant that they write on their website "Our liability is limited to the purchase price of this product only. By using this product you agree that PowerSwitchTail.com, LLC can not be held liable for any damages or injuries resulting from use, misuse, or repair. This product is for indoor use only." when in reality they can't restrict liability like this legally. So it is misleading for them to print that.

There are lots of wireless power control options, which are good for home use and for beginners, since they are isolated by a large distance.

Some thoughts on what Shabaz said about the Powertail switches. (And no, I have no connection with the people who sell them!)

How safe... in basic ways (fire/ electrocution), and in liability ways... is "safe enough"?

Level 1: Don't touch voltages above 12v DC... and be careful of the current sourcing potential of anything operating at that level. (A wire across the terminals of a car battery will do "interesting" things, for instance.)

Level 2: Use the sort of device Shabaz advocates. Up to a point, I agree... I would certainly be reluctant to introduce "home electronics" into the workplace, for instance. They do, however, entail a certain level of complexity (ways for things to go wrong) and expense, though.

Level 3: For those with sufficient knowledge and experience (let's not start that discussion?)... something like the Powertail Switches.

a) Limited liablilty: I think you will find similar wordage on many, many commercial products today. And it is, my view, only reasonable. Even though, as I think Shabaz was saying, you would have not problem finding lawyers to "di$$cuss" whether the license-to-use was enforcable until one of the clients was broke. Have you taken a holiday recently? And one of my banks, in its fine print, says they may, at their option, honor unsigned checks.

b) "Not APPROVED in Europe". That doesn't mean it is NOT safe. It MAY not be... but the cost of obtaining approval, twice (having already satisfied the US authorities) was probably something the people selling them probably decided they didn't want to incur. Some European customers would accept the "danger", and the rest wouldn't buy enough Powertail switches at any sensible price to cover the expense. Although it should probably be added that if you had a fire that the insurance company could pin on something you connected (badly) to the switch, then your insurance would probably not pay anything. Even if the switch were approved, how do you get approval for what you connect to it?

So! Sounds like we are going to spend our days just watching (small) LEDs wink!

I prefer Level 3 to....

Level 4: Say "The hell with it. I'll just hook my high voltage thing up through a relay. I have no training, but what the heck, how can a relay go wrong." (That's another discussion we probably shouldn't start?)

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By the way... if you accept the (false) premise that you can't go wrong with "only" 12v, there are a lot of devices designed to be part of automotive systems. There is "safe" life beyond pretty little LEDs.

For breadboard froendly, the ModernDevice.com (no "s", note) RBBB ("Really bare bones board) is pretty hard to beat.... ($20 for SMT version, mostly assembled. (You have to attache pins and a jack, so you can make your own choices in those departments... or $11 for a non-SMT version, requiring some simple assembly)

http://moderndevice.com/product/rbbb-pro/

.. but you will have to buy ONE programming cable. (Not horrendous... buy your first SMT RBBB WITH the programming cable, and it is only $27.)

...or the BBLeo they sell, which has the USB function built in...

BBLeo: Breadboard-Friendly Arduino Compatible - Modern Device

"Downside" to both: Working with shields is not as easy as with a "real" Arduino, but I don't often use shields, and see no reason that beginner would NEED to. WANT to? Ah well... that's another story, of course! (^_^)

I HAVE used shields with an RBBB.. you just have to connect the relevant pins with wires. Not hard.

For the Arduino, an UNO with a DIP ATMEGA328 is a good choice, if for some reason you fry the cpu by accident, it is easily replaced for a few $$ and no soldering is required, the SMD ones are great once your up to speed and less lightly to do something that will kill it

You can also take out the CPU once programmed and with very few components and a bit of vero board can use it on a permanent project, just pop in a new one on the empty board and your back to start the next project

This one is a good choice

Any Arduino or clone with processor in DIP **is** a good idea, for getting started... I agree with Peter.

But... should the processor get fried, don't you need a replacement with the boot loader already loaded? Not an insuperable problem, but I thought worth mentioning.

And... forgive helping the drift away from the "how do I get started" question, but....

As for "a bit of Vero board with a few components: The RBBB from ModernDevice.com, which I mentioned earlier came to mind... but then I uncovered something interesting...

At the moment (05 Dec 2014), ModernDevice are only selling the bare board... $11, leaving you to find the few bits and pieces needed. (Which you would be doing to go the Vero board route, anyway)... OR, they will sell you the BBB bare board for $4.50... which would do just as well, as far as I can see for the "cheap production alternative" I understood Peter to be suggesting.

Sad to see kits (PCB +  a few inexpensive passives) no longer available, but, hey! Obviously we didn't buy them when they WERE available! (ModernDevice DO still offer, as well, to sell you most of the "few passives", too, though. I'd certainly pick up the 16Mz resonator you are going to need, at least. ("Components" page.... and no, I have no connection with Modern Device apart from Happy Customer.)

Hmmm... think I'll go order some BBB pcbs while available...