i keep wondering why the built in standard 'delay ();' function hasn't been changed to a non blocking delay function. i can see when searching that there are many libraries / functions offered with non blocking delays, and i can vaguely remember a way of using the milli's function. But they all seem to need quite a few bits of code to use, I'd have thought it may be easier for beginners (and people like me who forget stuff) to be able to simply type something like : 'nonBlockingDelay (1000); when they just want a simple delay for say flashing a led, or sending repeating keyboard key's at a speed the computer can keep up with.

@DaveX Nice. Throw some time stamps on that output maybe I will. Looks like wokwi serial terminal doesn't have them, so time for a real UNO or a few lines kf extra code. Also, for this and anything a bit more involved with the macros, I'd like to see the code after macro expansion has occurred. I'm sure that can be found somewhere. Before I know it, it seems like using the macros would take some good knowledge of what they were doing, and an appreciation for the ways it might go wrong. a7

Ahh, i figured it wouldn't be that easy :slight_smile: i really struggle with coding, tried to learn some C# programming recently as i was told it's easier to learn that then move into C++, but i just got totally overwhelmed with it all. So i can just about manage simple arduino sketches, and my thinking is that arduino's are often aimed at beginners, yet the simple functions like 'Delay' and 'string' cause so many problems on arduino's when used without knowing the issues with them. But beginners (or those where coding just doesn't seem to stick in their heads) love being able to type a single word to get a delay, or add stuff to a string, In a way i wonder if they shouldn't be in arduino's at all, so everyone is forced to learn the proper way to do those functions. : One example of wanting a non blocking delay is when using the arduino as a usb keyboard device, Usually half the code is listening for button inputs, reading potentiometers, and sometimes using interrupts for reading rotary encoders as fast possible, so any blocking delays anywhere in the code will miss inputs, Another part of the code is then processing the inputs, taking the potentiometers values and when they move between a range they then go on to send keyboard events. Some delays are needed to avoid switching back and forth rapidly between 2 ranges if the pot output is jittery. so i guess they need to block just that part of the code? Then sending the actual keyboard events, they need to be delayed, or the computer misses some of the inputs if they are fired off one after the other at sub millisecond intervals. And finally, at the very end of each pot or encoders travel (encoders connected to a limited movement lever or knob) a set of 3 or more keyboard events is to be sent, but with 50 millisecond spaces between them... without blocking everything else.

[image] Delta_G: all the people that try to make it sound hard. And then present something designed to make it easy. Which I have yet to see. What seems to work is to read as many exposures to the basic BWOD pattern as you can take time for. There are a literal crap-ton of ppl who will claim the high ground for this. One door, many keys. Something will sooner later work for anyone. And for everyone I've seen go across this great divide, an Aha! moment, where life changes forever. a7

i must have the coding skills of a 2 year old then :slight_smile: i really struggle with coding, so what seems simple for someone who has been doing it all their life can feel like writing the code to fly to the moon to others. i just can't seem to get complex coding stuff to stick in my brain, i am more a mechanical person really.

[image] gazz292: And finally All perfectly manageable with millis() and non-blocking programming. Here we usually start mentioning FSMs, finite state machines, which is a way to manage multiple things "at once". Google arduino finite state machine and poke around a bit. a7

[image] StefanL38: I support the basic idea of a much easier to use non-blocking delay than the "standard" blink_without_delay-Demo-code At [image] Flashing multiple LEDs at the same time Introductory Tutorials Introduction A common question is to ask how to flash 2 (or more) LEDs at the same time. Typically the person asking will be using delay and will be experiencing the main problem with delay: it blocks and stops anything else from happening. This tutorial contains several different approaches to the problem of flashing 2 or more LEDs at the same time with independent timing for each LED. The basic principles for each can all be adapted for other situations requiring multiple timers working inde… ...there are a few attempts at simplifying and the awkward https://docs.arduino.cc/built-in-examples/digital/BlinkWithoutDelay example. Understanding the similarities of the different answers and implementation of the same task in the above is better for understanding non-blocking than understanding the difference between BWoD and Blink

I have posted somewhere in the French speaking part of the forum (many moons ago) an AsyncTask class The idea is that when you want something to happen sometime in the future you tell that to an AsyncTask. Say you want to blink a led You turn it on You ask the asyncTask to call a function 500ms later The code keeps going When time is up your function is called and in that function you invert the state of the led and ask for the function to be called again in 500ms. That’s it you get the blinking (Of course there is a catch, this is based on polling (updating the pending tasks often) and thus equires the loop to cycle quickly enough so that you don’t get delayed ) That helped someone who had trouble with the concept of dealing with time differences and state machine,

Try thinking of a non-blocking program as a checklist of items you scan over every second, as compared to a sequential list of blocking items that must be completed before you can move on to the next stage. Asking for a non-blocking-delay is like asking about how you check on a 30 minute laundry task while a 45 minute cake is baking. You don't block watching the oven or the laundry, you just quickly check if it the time is up, act or not, and move on to other tasks. The @Robin2 tutorials at [image] Planning and Implementing an Arduino Program Programming From what I can see there are many tutorials about doing specific tasks with an Arduino but I have not come across any that guide a newcomer through the process of planning and implementing a program to make it easy to understand and debug. The following 9 posts in this Thread are an attempt to fill that gap. ...R [image] Demonstration code for several things at the same time General Guidance NOTE for newcomers. The demo is entirely contained in this Post and Reply #1. There is no need to read further unless you are interested. ...added 25Sep2014 There have been a few occasions recently where newcomers seemed to have difficulty applying the "blink without delay" and "state" concepts to a sketch that is intended to manage a number of concurrent actions. Its very time consuming to respond with suitable code examples - particularly as every case is a little different. I have prepared… and the different ways of extending BlinkWithoutDelay at [image] Flashing multiple LEDs at the same time Tutorials Introduction A common question is to ask how to flash 2 (or more) LEDs at the same time. Typically the person asking will be using delay and will be experiencing the main problem with delay: it blocks and stops anything else from happening. This tutorial contains several different approaches to the problem of flashing 2 or more LEDs at the same time with independent timing for each LED. The basic principles for each can all be adapted for other situations requiring multiple timers working inde… ... are all good at highlighting the shifted mode of thought.

[image] gazz292: but i just got totally overwhelmed with it all. Getting "overwhelmed" HIGHEST depends on what explanation you used. There are a lot of youtube-videos and websites that claim to be easy to understand but in fact are not. My estimation is 95% of all these explanations are - more or less - non-ideal. And surely 80% are crap. Recorded and uploaded by people that think "I'm talking about it like on a party telling what funny thing happened last week and .... " or beeing blind to beginner difficulties. And then another 4% do not fit well to your personal way of learning. The remaining 1% is hard to find. best regards Stefan

Without knowing your personal preferences about how learning works best for you it is hard to make suggestions. There are several ways to find out: telling your way of learning if you can describe it in words asking specific questions about any code. If you ask by using assumptions example "is my assuming right that in this line of code" char myInputText[32]; the "32" defines the number of ...... and ypu describe what you think the meaning is Will guide the users on the forum to get a picture of your knowledge-level and which things you already understand and which not. best regards Stefan

Is there a non blocking delay that's as easy to use as the built in delay function?

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DaveX December 1, 2023, 5:39pm 30

...there are a few attempts at simplifying and the awkward https://docs.arduino.cc/built-in-examples/digital/BlinkWithoutDelay example. Understanding the similarities of the different answers and implementation of the same task in the above is better for understanding non-blocking than understanding the difference between BWoD and Blink

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Is there a non blocking delay that's as easy to use as the built in delay function?

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