My question to mid-level / experts : what IDE do you use with your Arduino Board ?
If not using Arduino IDE, have you share code for the arduino community and did you have to "double-check" seperatly on the Arduino IDE to compile/test and package Example ?
In my previous life, i was Software/hardware program manager with a great team of programmers who showed me a bit of their great tools.
In my current life, i needed to quickly have a proof of concept running and started using the arduino HW and IDE.
It quickly worked out great ... BUT , let's face it, the IDE is perfect for small projects and can easily let us try new librairies an interfaces.
When you hit Larger projects, need to code unit-test or start digging deep into librairies for tailoring or fixing, it's clearly a pain.
I currently use Atmel Studio. It's not the greatest IDE but way more powerfull then Notepad++ & ArduinoIDE.
BUT i did suffer a lot in the transition...
I use the SAMD21, so the CMSIS was a major issue in my conversion. I wish i could find others like me so we could easily share experiences, tips and it would help other Noobs like myself
@Cmaglie ? @sandeep ? I've read many of your posts, you are mentors to many of use ? Please share
I use Notepad++ for pretty much everything. You can also put the Arduino command lines into N++ so it can build and upload.
For Arduino projects I mix N++ and the IDE (IDE is no good for building libraries).
I think some people are mixing up beginner and expert. All the fancy IDE's with auto complete and assistance tools are really targeted to beginners. Experts can effectively use documentation and experience to build apps.
For unit testing and building resources I use things like NodeJS.
When my arduino program gets large or needs fancy editing, I use the "use external editor" preference, and edit with Emacs and assorted unix tools (tags, mkid, etc)
I only go to as7 if I need the debug or simulation tools.
ericbaril72:
If not using Arduino IDE, have you share code for the arduino community and did you have to "double-check" seperatly on the Arduino IDE to compile/test and package Example ?
I think that's a very good idea. I've seen several projects that wouldn't work in the Arduino IDE because the author uses Eclipse, etc. Not to say that someone should be obligated to test with an IDE they don't use or like but if you want to make an Arduino project accessible to the majority of users it has to work with the Arduino IDE.
I'm using the IDE. I don't like the editor much, the rest is fine. If I was to want something else I'd probably just switch to a makefile and probably Notepad++ as editor.
I don't have a ton of experience with the fancy things like auto-complete that people seem to miss so much from the Arduino IDE but the experience I do have (mostly a week spent battling with Atmel Studio/Visual Micro) was very negative.
For unit testing I'd still want to use Arduino IDE CLI or arduino-builder for the reason stated above. Maybe it would be useful to have a way to run automated unit tests from the IDE but I'd probably rather just do that separately.
XCode on mac - great editor.
Compiled with the arduino IDE with 'external editor' enabled, until
I couldn't stand the way the errors/warnings were displayed (got a project with a lot of source files).
Started building a simple IDE for my personal use, just for compiling, uploading, and serial monotor, and still using Xcode for the actual editing.
Sometimes still using the arduino IDE for short test projects.
pert:
but if you want to make an Arduino project accessible to the majority of users it has to work with the Arduino IDE.
Agree 100%.
The Python program I use for compiling and uploading relies on some comments added at the top of the .ino file. If compiling from the IDE editor these are just ignored.
However my Python program has been written to get around some limitations of the IDE - particularly its inability to reference libraries and ,h files using relative references - and if I use those features my code would not compile with the regular IDE. But if I am writing something to show here I take care to ensure that it will compile with the IDE.
...R
PS, I'm not an ex spurt. I am just an old bodger
I switched to Sloeber and there's no way I'm coming back.
It's based on Eclipse so you get all the goodies (and some bad things too ). If you're familiar with Eclipse then you're golden, it's very easy to use and, something that I like a lot, the generated project is still compatible with the Arduino IDE. So say, in 10 years Sloeber dies, then you can go back to the Arduino IDE and take it from there into another IDE or whatever.
Some things that work in Sloeber don't work in the Arduino IDE. Usually it only takes some minor changes to make it work in both but I've seen this multiple times where people publish "Arduino" sketches and/or libraries that don't actually work with the Arduino IDE.
). If you're familiar with Eclipse then you're golden, it's very easy to use and, something that I like a lot, the generated project is still compatible with the Arduino IDE. So say, in 10 years Sloeber dies, then you can go back to the Arduino IDE and take it from there into another IDE or whatever.