While I don't consider myself an arduino 'expert', I've done a good deal of projects with it and other microcontrollers, and with plenty of other circuits over the past several years, so I dont consider myself a newb any more either. However, this hackaday article kind of bothered me http://hackaday.com/2011/02/11/how-the-arduino-won-this-is-how-we-can-kill-it/ . So what if its overkill for some people's projects? For beginners, its easy! I think of it as a gateway into the incredible world of more powerful electronics. It seems to me like sometimes, old-school EEs and other true get a little upset that the masses are coming into embedded electronics. Whats wrong with that?! Imagine a time when one day, if someone needs something done, they just take out their arduino and build it themselves.
That said, a part of me cringes whenever i read a topic titled "NEWBIE PROBLEM PLZ HELP". Again, not that theres anything wrong with newbies or questions, but i'd say 90% of these questions can be answered with 5 minutes of googling, and the "NEWBIE" will learn something on the way. I think that the anger and the agitation comes when people come to the forum with no experience and a simple problem, and expect a god member to write them a personalized tutorial. If people would just read, and then google a little more, I think the arduino forums, and the embedded world would be a better place.
Thoughts? Opinions? Furious rants? All welcome.
Good night!