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Getting Ready to Program the Arduino
In order to program the Arduino you can use their web-based environment or a destop application. We will use the desktop application in this workshop.
The Arduino web site does a good job of documenting this for various systems and is kept up to date, so just go here and follow the instructions for your type of computer:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage
About Arduino programming
The Arduino program tells the Arduino what to do. The program is written in a programming language called Processing. Processing is based on another language called “C”.
A program for the Arduino is called a “Sketch”. Sketches are written in the Arduino programming environment which also provides the ability to upload the sketch in to the Arduino and communicate with the Arduino when it is running the program.
The Sketch consists of a number of commands in sequence. Normally the commands are executed one after another in the order they appear in the Sketch. However there are also special commands that can change the order of execution.
Arduino programming Environment
Menus
Control Buttons
Sketch Editor
Program Notification Area
Used to show messages from the program
Tabs to select Sketch
Status Bar
Shows the result of the last action