Graphical IDE Programming Soft - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Anson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2013, 08:54:46 pm
content: Are there any downfalls to using an IDE with graphical interface such a Mod Kit or Mini Blog? Being a beginner I can see how this would make it way easier to get things working and since I am a hobbyist I don't technically have to learn everything about electronics. But I kinda feel like its cheating a little and I like to learn. How steep is the learning curve for programming AVR? It will be the first MCU I will be dealing with. Thanks to TerminalJack505 Thanks again Jack! Are there limitations to these programs? Are there things I should be wary of if I use them. The ones I mentioned are currently only for arduino but there are a few open source ones I have looked at. What programming environments do you guys consider best for AVR or even better one that supports all chips.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2013, 09:09:46 pm
content: arduino code is a little twisted from the original C but its generally very easy for beginners to understand after a little bit of reading,they call them sketches but in reality its just a program, you start off with your setup or "void setup" this is where you declare and perform any functions you want done only at turn on, say telling the pin your led is on is an output, or declaring that you want the variable "time_off" to be an integer, or perhaps running a snippet of code like a power on test where if you had say 10 led's it turned them all on for a second,next up is the loop or "void loop" essentially anything you want to run following the setup gets put here, be it flashing an led once per second, to other more interesting things that you can advance to as you get to know it better, and there are endless tutorials floating out on the net to help you come to terms with itin my own opinion i would avoid the graphical ide, as the arduino one already takes away from the true programming side of it, and it would obscure it even more, leaving you a little stuck in how to progress from that point,

author: TerminalJack505
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2013, 09:36:48 pm
content: Since you are going to be programming AVRs I suggest you download and install Atmel Studio and start getting familiar with it. And start learning the C language. Or, if you're adventurous, AVR assembly language.With the setup I'm building for you, you will be able to do everything in Atmel Studio with the exception of device programming. (You won't have a debugger either, of course.) You'll have to useavrdudefrom the command line to program the device. There's probably a way to call the command from Atmel Studio but I've never played around with it.Atmel Studio basically does all of the project management for you. It will manage the build process so that you won't have to worry about makefiles and whatnot. If you've never used an IDE before then it might seem overwhelming at first but you really only use about 20% of the functionality so don't get too stressed by all the buttons and menu options.Once I get your programmer and USB serial cable made I'll build some little projects and document them to demonstrate how to get a project up and running.You have some breadboards, right?Also, which OS are you running? The reason I ask is that the USB serial cable will only run at 9600 baud on my Windows 7 64-bit system. This is fast enough to get debugging information out of the MCU at least.

author: Anson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2013, 10:48:01 pm
content: I'm running windows 8 which I don't care for on a desktop. If it were a laptop with touch I would like it better. It's essentially the same as 7 but with some irritating attributes.I have a 830 pin breadboard I thought it would have been bigger but it's not. That's the downside of buying online. I do have a board and a box of finish nails I could go the old fashioned route...I will go ahead and download the program and get familiar with it. Is there a good site or book I can download (*cough torrent*) or visit to help learn or is it best just to start pressing buttons and go from there?

author: TerminalJack505
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:15:08 am
content: I don't know if this serial cable will work with Windows 8 or not. They don't include any drivers for Windows 8. I don't know if the Windows 7 drivers will work under Windows 8.I don't know of any books or sites for Atmel Studio. It's really just Microsoft's Visual Studio IDE that's been customized for Atmel's microcontrollers. The backend is just the GCC toolchain.So far as learning C goes, I'm sure there are a ton of tutorials out there on the web.

author: Anson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:33:09 am
content: Most drivers for 7 work for 8. it should work fine.