Arduino fans take a lot of flack from the “hard core” micro-controller crowd. \u00a0The main complaint is that many projects could<\/em> be accomplished much more simply. \u00a0Take “blink” for example. \u00a0Why would you use and Arduino to blink an LED when you can accomplish the same with a 555 timer? \u00a0This criticism is\u00a0eerily similar to complaints I’ve heard about the programming language Python.<\/p>\n

Now, Python is a well accepted language that has\u00a0proliferated\u00a0into every aspect of computation form the Web, to scientific computing, to graphics to … you name it. \u00a0But this was not always the case. \u00a0 I’ve\u00a0experienced many eye-rolls and many\u00a0doubters throughout my twelve year experience with Python. \u00a0But Python survived them all because of its massive utility. \u00a0Programmers are simply more productive with Python and the economics finally won out. \u00a0You can do more in less time with Python.<\/p>\n

Arduino faces a similar challenge. \u00a0It is\u00a0disruptive to the status quo and enables anyone with even a passing interest to get something working in electronics with no background and very little effort. \u00a0With effort, those same people can accomplish amazing things using Arduino.<\/p>\n

To say that “Arduino is overkill” misses the point! \u00a0It is often a choice between getting something done or not. \u00a0The less time something takes, the more you can accomplish. \u00a0And, if Arduino is capable of a task then it is the fastest way to get it done (for me at least).<\/p>\n

This brings me to\u00a0\u00e0 la mode. \u00a0If you have not heard,\u00a0\u00e0 la mode is an Arduino compatible board that mates with the Raspberry Pi single board computer. \u00a0The R. Pi is a computational powerhouse compared to the Arduino, but it lacks the analog interface to interact with the real world that Arduino has. \u00a0Better yet the Raspberry Pi\u00a0\u00e0 la mode combo will allow me to mix my two favorite programming languages: Python and Arduino!<\/p>\n

I am planning to write a program for\u00a0\u00e0 la mode that provides an I2C interface to all of the functionality that the\u00a0\u00e0 la mode has to offer. \u00a0When both sides of the interface are complete, it will be very simple to read and write analog or digital pins, read the real time clock, and get GPS position (optional).<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to get my hands on the hardware!<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arduino fans take a lot of flack from the “hard core” micro-controller crowd. \u00a0The main complaint is that many projects could be accomplished much more simply. \u00a0Take “blink” for example. \u00a0Why would you use and Arduino to blink an LED … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":914,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyolum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}