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Well, I recently decided to play around with some electronics again, because I’m interested in how I might be able to leverage my programming skills in the “real world”. So I started poking around online trying to figure out where to start. I know almost nothing about this world anymore, but I quickly became aware of a popular, neat little programmable microcontroller called the Arduino…
…What’s bizarre is that it’s so much fun. I mean, I’ve built large, complex websites with tens of thousands of lines of code that use a dozen different languages, frameworks, and technologies. So how come writing 6 lines of code to make a stupid little LED blink makes me grin like an idiot?
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I hear you brother. I am in the same boat.
Comment by Jonathan — October 29, 2010 @ 1:55 pm
Wow, I thought I was the only one. I am an old EE now doing enterprise java stuff (boring) and found Arduino and did the same smile when I first saw a blinking light. Now I’m ordering stuff and also have no time, but it really is fun like the old days.
Comment by Tom — October 29, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
It’s fun because you can do things like this:
http://www.upcraft.it/archives/689
And things like this:
http://www.upcraft.it/archives/737
with relative ease. Once you start, you can’t stop, and you end up trying to control everything with Arduino
Comment by Andrew Lewis — October 29, 2010 @ 3:51 pm
I’m in the same boat (discovery). Thinking about this for myself, I realize that after 25 years of programming (very abstract), my mind is seeking things that are more physically concrete. Arduino, and this easy world of physical computing allows me to creatively express myself in the concrete, rather than the abstract.
Comment by William — October 29, 2010 @ 4:37 pm
I had a really similar reaction! I work on an awfully large website with an awfully large middle tier that I wrote most of. It handles billions of messages of a day. But making that first led fade in and out make me giggle like an idiot.
Comment by Erik — October 29, 2010 @ 6:08 pm