Where has SoftwareSerial gone?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Software Troubleshooting
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Edit:

The Arduino team didn't do that. A member of the forum saw a need for a better software serial class, and developed a new one. What to call it? Well, SoftwareSerial2 seems kind of clunky.

The library was posted on the forum and playground, got good reviews, and was acknowledged to be better than SoftwareSerial. So, support for SoftwareSerial was dropped. It has not been the preferred software serial class for many versions of the IDE.

Okay, I have no problem with it being deprecated. I am only asking for a clear, simple way to know the status of the stuff that is included in the IDE download.

How would you do it?

  1. Decide how libraries/language will be deprecated and made obsolete, then publish that on the Arduino.cc web site.

I have total confidence in the Arduino team to develop a good approach. They have very good taste.

Here is my cut, assuming that information exists, and this is in-line with that approach:

  1. Write in the Library/Reference page that NewSoftSerial is recommended over SoftwareSerial in the line describing SoftwareSerial. Add a link to hop down the page to the NewSoftSerial entry.
  2. Write in the Library/Reference/SoftwareSerial page, at the top, very clearly, NewSoftSerial is recommended, and that SoftwareSerial is deprecated, but still supplied for those people who have already committed to using it. Say if/when SofwareSerial will no longer be included in the Arduino IDE download. Add a link to the Arduino.cc page which explains the general process of deprecating and obsoleting components.
  3. While SoftwareSerial is included in the download with the IDE, include the example program that exercises it. Include in the comment at the top, the note that SoftwareSerial is deprecated, and refer to the Arduino.cc Libraries/Reference/SoftwareSerial page
  4. When SoftwareSerial becomes deprecated (if it isn't already), add a note to the Release Notes to say that.
  5. When SoftwareSerial stops being included in the Arduino IDE download, add a note to the Release Notes to say that.

I've been a developer for 30+ years

And so?
I wrote my first commercial, professional code in 1978. I learned C on XENIX in 1983, and BSD UNIX 1984. My friend Mark had the first C++ compiler in Europe, from a tape made by Bjarne Stroustrup, and he taught me C++. I have taught Software Engineering to post graduate level to industrial and full time students. I have been responsible for the post graduate software engineering training of near 1000 graduates/year, as well as some of the software engineering quality processes for a development shop of several thousand people. So what?

I am thrilled that there are a growing stream of talented folks with only a few years experience coming up with great ideas, fabulous approaches, and teaching me a thing or two.

I think good, simple, lightweight processes to deprecate and obsolete code help make our development activities easier and more enjoyable.