Programming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches, Second Edition (Tab) 2nd Edition

I bought this little gem two years ago and I'm writing this review in 2020 amidst the global pandemic, so I've got some spare time to read. I'm not a programmer nor an electronics specialist. Otherwise, why would I be purchasing something like this? I come from an industrial chemistry backgroud, but always felt drawn to electronics. Anyways. This book is about software on how to deal with and what to expect, when playing around with not so much the board, but the programming language details and rules themsleves. I took a class on C programming back in my day, but for my interests I ended up considering it a waste of my time. I just couldn't get my head around concepts like arrays, strings, structures and pointers I just saw no use in them. Little did I know that the Arduinos would come along and with them, the opportunity to make amazing and fun and useful gadgets. You see, when you work with chemicals and formulations, some "automatic help" always comes handy. And I'm not taling about super state of the art crazy lab gear, no. Simple mixers a little bigger than the usual, heaters, temperature controllers, pHmeters, coolers, blowers, dryers and other devices that you need for this kind of work. Not everything has to be OEM. Sometimes you have to improvise on the fly. But yo have to be precise, or the preparation will go bad. Enter Arduino. I knew someday I'd make use of them for whatever purpose. I thought it would be easy. Not so. And not so much on the electronics, but on the programming side of things. Somewhere I read that the language of choice for programming microcontrollers in a more productive fashion is C. Quickly I learned and understood that Assembler is for the pros, for important commercial projects and products that must comply with regulations and such. I've read that proffesional embedded programmers laugh at the idea of using C for a serious project. And I get it. (I also smile when I hear electronic guys saying they will clean everything with isopropanol.) I think I get it programming a PIC imposes some serious thinking and for more advanced hobbyists, programming a PIC in C is quite an accomplishment. I wish I could do that. So Arduino is more friendy for the newbie. As it turns out, C being portable is the way to go when you don't care that much about memory and other resoruces, and don't the responsabilities an embedded engineer has. When I first opened the book, I instantly recognized the C logic in ti. Right off the bat in page 27 the author establishes that "the programming language used to program an Arduino is a language called C." But my C was really really really rusty. Honestly, non existent. Si I humbled myself and put the book to rest. And two years went by. About two months ago when all this global pandemic situation started, I ordered the dummy C language book series by Dan Gookin; there's three of them (c for dummies, c desk reference and c programming) and as of bow I've already read the three of them and done most of the exercises. These last 6 or 7 weeks have been a self-taught journey learning, I've been very fortunate to have all this time sice I've done pretty much nothing else but discovering and exploring the C language on my own and I've enjoyed it very much. Dennis Ritchie sir, thank you very much. So now that I've finished Dr. Monk's programming Arduino book I compare my reading like a walk in the park. I can finally say I find it ridiculously easy to read and analyze C code for the Arduino. At last this programming is all fun and I'm a 40 year old chemical guy. Yeah, I'm one of those that works with acids and solvents and reactants. It never crossed my mind the C programming class I took years ago, would come as a flashback to reveal to me how useful the language would turn out to be, for playing around with my own electronic gadgets. I'm hooked. I've already ordered the second part of this series. Now I'm thinking maybe 2-3 years from now, exploring PIC will not be an outrageous idea. But as I said, the C language comes first. Otherwise, you will struggle.

I've been a professional coder for almost 30 years. So I was a bit bored reading page after page of how to write C code. But this book is a "Getting Started" book so that's to be expected. It does a great job of delving into the how's and why's of Arduino coding and teaching C basics. If you're not a coder this will certainly get you started. It steps you through the entire process of writing sketches with plenty of examples. I especially like (from the beginners POV) the way the author shows you the most basic way to do something, then introduces alternate methods of coding that allows breaking up and structuring code to allow more flexible, powerful program. (Such as the Morse code example programs.)It shows the basics of communicating with external sensors and switches. (It even discusses "Bouncing" - a common problem when writing hardware interfaces.)I haven't finished the book yet. I've just reached the Arduino Standard Library - the section that really interests me. I'm hoping that by the end of the book I'll find suggestions on writing the tightest, most concise code to cram as much functionality as possible in the smallest footprint. (Arduinos don't have much nonvolatile memory.)

I was between giving this book 3-4 stars. I read it cover to cover in a few evenings. It isn't that long. I had experience programming in Java but none in C or C++. This does definitely get you started in the basics. I wish it was a little more comprehensive. I also thinks some of the things it chooses to expand on such as using Arduino as a webserver are interesting an interesting choice. It does give you enough of the language structure that you should be able to start building your own language but doesn't go into detail on a lot of how the language directly applies to components. I feel like one of the main example projects, 'morse code' one was a little convoluted. Overall though I am glad I read it and was definitely good background for building some code in the Arduino ide.

Fantastic and focused book. The author does a fantastic job explaining step-by-step the explanations leading up to why code is used. This is a concise book, so don't expect to become a programming god after reading it. You will know enough to program the Arduino, however. It also does not cover much on the electronics side at all, he has another book on electronics for that. I appreciate the focus and conciseness of this book. There are not a lot of words wasted going on about all the uses for making an LED turn on or home automation, etc. Just to the point. I saw one reviewer complaining about the debounce explanation not being good. Perhaps that was another edition of the book, but like all other explanations, the author explained this one in a gradual way that let you understand from a basic level what was going on. Fantastic book. I would say that if you have never programmed before, it may be a little difficult to follow some of the code, but that is too be expected.