adding Links to introductional information with long-term stability in democode

Projects Programming
1

Hi,

very short keyword abstract:

typical case of using arduinos:

  • rudimentare knowledge about electronics, compilers, coding etc.
  • trying to use additional libraries
  • almost no docummentaion inside the library demo-codes

Call for inserting some links that have long-term stability
inside the comments of the demo-codes. Which would take the coder just a few minutes
and save beginners hours of searching to make it easier for newbees finding the additional information they need to get their code running.

more detailed description of my question/suggestion:

a very typical case of how people are trying to use arduinos is:
small knowledge about electronics (ohms law etc), compilers, coding-techniques
maybe have coded a little bit on PCs in scratch, python, delphi or visual basic

Now if such people start a project with an arduino that does a bit more than blinking an LED like
measuring a temperature and showing the value on a LCD, controlling RC-servos or a stepper-motor
by using a pre-coded library these people will stumble across a lot of problems because of their low level knowledge.

These beginners have to learn of course. I f they aren't willing to go buy a well developed product from the shelf.

My impression is most coders that contribute to the comunity with new libraries don't have fun with extensive documenation. Throw in a few examples (including a lot of ifdef-statements) and be thankful for publishing the code itself.

Yes I'm thankful for that. But I want to make a suggestion how all these coders can help beginners to find the relevant information they need to get their project working.

So if there would exist some links to websites that explain the (advanced) basics like:

  • how to install a library to make an include-statement to work
  • how do I use an object
  • why do I have to connect ground of my devices
  • specialties about a certain ardiono-IDE compatible board

and these links have a long-term stability the coders of the libraries would add just a few
lines of comment with these links make it much more easier for beginners to find the relevant informations about problems they encounter.

I have searched through this website but haven't found something similar.

So my questions are:

  • does something like this already exist?
  • how about a general information on GitHub please add these links as comments in your democode

If this sub-forum is not the best place to ask/suggest such a thing please post the best suitable sub-forum

@moderator of this subforum: if there exists a better-suited subforum transfer my post to this sub-forum and give me an email-hint about it.

best regards

Stefan

2

StefanL38:
So if there would exist some links to websites that explain the (advanced) basics like:

  • how to install a library to make an include-statement to work
  • how do I use an object
  • why do I have to connect ground of my devices
  • specialties about a certain ardiono-IDE compatible board

I agree with you that for many libraries the documentation is poor or non existent and I certainly don't consider 2 or 3 examples being an acceptable substitute. It seems to be an unfortunate fact of life that Open Source programmers prefer writing code to writing documentation. I suspect that the producers of commercial software products pay the people who write the documentation.

However I don't think it is reasonable for every library to include links to the sort of things in the piece I have quoted. There is a section of this Forum called Introductory Tutorials and a Thread of Useful Links as well as the Resources/Reference section.

I am not suggesting that those resources currently meet your need but, if not, please feel free to contribute to the Introductory Tutorials section.

It can be difficult for someone who is past the beginner stage to remember the things that caused problems when they were starting so if you have specific suggestions they will be useful. Perhaps you could create a Introductory Topic in which you say something like "I'm a newbie and these are links that I found especially useful ... and these are things I am still struggling to figure out ..."

...R