I'm fairly new to Arduino and haven't done much programming in about 25 years and as I delve into the IDE I'm finding the reference material to be somewhat lacking. Specifically, the Arduino Language Reference section on this very board does not appear to have anything like a comprehensive listing of all the functions and particularly the function modifiers/parameters. As an example, the reference on the Communication function "Serial" appears to be pretty sparse in listing all the modifiers that can be used with the Serial.print() function. I would like to see a more complete listing of all the parameters you can use with the Serial.print() function.
In this section of the reference about the Serial.print() function (Serial.print() - Arduino Reference) there is no listing that detail what \n\r does and there are many code examples elsewhere that use that set or parameters. It just looks to me that what we have is a bit too ad hoc and not comprehensive enough.
So, what I'd like to see or be pointed to if it exists elsewhere is a very detailed listing of all functions with all the parameters and modifiers for each function. Having code segments that use them would be nice but at the least I'd like to have ONE PLACE I CAN GO that completely details every function and all the parameters and modifiers each function can have.
Specifically, the Arduino Language Reference section on this very board does not appear to have anything like a comprehensive listing of all the functions and particularly the function modifiers/parameters.
Why should it! The language is C/C++ there mist be 100,000 books on the language! As to lib's no one knows how many there are or in deed could know!
Raptor1956:
So, what I'd like to see or be pointed to if it exists elsewhere is a very detailed listing of all functions with all the parameters and modifiers for each function. Having code segments that use them would be nice but at the least I'd like to have ONE PLACE I CAN GO that completely details every function and all the parameters and modifiers each function can have.
For a variety of reasons I think your expectations are unrealistic.
Programming an Arduino is done using the C/C++ language that has been around very much longer than the Arduino boards so there is a huge amount of historical "system" that could not possibly be included in the Arduino reference section.
One of the attractions of the Arduino IDE is that it is OpenSource and free. But the people who generously contribute their valuable time to create OpenSource software are generally, not very good at writing documentation. Looked at from that perspective the Reference material is actually very good.
Another major attraction of the Arduino system is the wide range of libraries that are available. But many of those are created by people who are not part of the Arduino development team and it would be quite impossible to list all the libraries, never mind enforce quality documentation.
I can understand your present frustration but, if you persevere you will discover that it was a passing frustration and that, too, has a major bearing on the availability of documentation. The people (like you) who are aware of its shortcomings are not expert enough to write the documentation and the people who are expert enough are no longer aware of the shortcomings.
Also, as you gain proficiency you will find you are better able to formulate Google search questions that get you the info you need. When I want to learn something new I know it can be very frustrating while I am not aware of the correct terms that bring forth the answers.
In this section of the reference about the Serial.print() function there is no listing that detail what \n\r does
Well, the function of "\n\r" and similar has nothing to do with Serial.print(), so even if the Arduino documentation included everything that is in C and C++, it wouldn't be easy to find. (print can take a string. Strings can take escape sequences. Those escape sequences are...) (Escape sequences in C - Wikipedia)
I agree that the reference is lacking; but maybe in another way. It would e.g. be extremely useful if one at first glance could see what the type of parameters are for a function and what it returns.