ESP-IDF in CPP: Series Update

[@DrGreenGiant]

Wanting to be open and honest with you guys, as you've provided a lot of food for thought in the comments here, thank you. I think it would be good for me to keep going and taking on board your points I think I can justify this. The big question...new series or continue this one? I want to focus on embedded, modern C++, with little concern for the IDF (although we will be using it of course to interface to the hardware.) If I do start a fresh, rebranded series (which seems like a good idea) then we will be able to reuse some code we've done here, so it isn't completely disconnected. My thinking being, it serves as a nice distinction point between the focus of the videos and the way they are "advertised" from the "ESP-IDF in C++", to something more along the lines of "embedded modern C++ methodologies."

[@original_anu]

Regardless of what microcontroller you use, a general "embedded modern C++ methodologies" series like C++ weekly would be wonderful if that makes sense Maybe just some good practices, most common faults etc

[@DrGreenGiant]

@@original_anu I love this idea. I'll see if I can think of some stuff that can be done in short videos rather than my usual long ones

[@DrGreenGiant]

In light of all your wonderful comments... New series started!! Different playlist

[@eugenedudnyk5242]

Greetings from Odesa! Thanks for supporting my country

[@RobertMamala]

Your's esp-idf series is the best tutorial about that environment in the internet. Seriously I didn't find any better tutorial about esp32 on internet. You're a great guy and programmer. I respect your decission and undestand you. I'm from Poland and I have familiy on Ukraine too. You can create a tutorial about some other environment stm32 or raspberry pico, it will be great.

[@henrycheung6960]

Simon, I understand your position and decision. I'm a Singaporean, for us every male citizen would have to go through two years of National Service (military training) before entering University study. With what happening in Ukraine, it changed my feeling toward our National Service and started to understand its importance. "The biggest vision I have is to bring the vast benefits of modern C++ to the embedded world which is often decade(s) behind", I like that and agreed with you, and I wish you for your success in your future endeavours. I wish you will build on the idea of "Modern C++ for embedded" based on your vision for your future videos, it not necessary tie to a specific MCU. Last I'd like to share about my thought about defining a "Chinese" company, and I'm not trying to convince you in anyway, but just to share my view. First a little bit background about Espressif, most of the technologies, stacks were rooted from Marvell, Espressif founder (and many of the staff and developers in Espressif) were used to work for Marvell, when Marvell was dissolved and all the business units were breaking apart and sold, the founder of Espressif (who happened to be my fellow Singaporean) took the business and created Espressif. The reason that Espressif located at where it is now is because that was where Marvell used to be (in fact you will find several companies that can traced back to former Marvell BUs in the same High Tech park in Shanghai). Personally I never think Espressif as a Chinese company, but a company incorporated in China. There is a subtle differences between a company incorporated in China versus a Chinese company incorporated overseas and pretend to be a foreign company. e.g. Zoom to me is more like a Chinese company even though they incorporated in US (with their past privacy practices, R&D in China, and some data kept in China), personally, it is the latter that I would be cautious about than the former one. Of course, my view is certain not mainstream.

[@original_anu]

I hope all your friends and family are safe. Your videos have helped me get into embedded devices and I love your approach of teaching. Your take on Espressif is justified and I am with you on that. You can look at the recently announced Pico W which I think can be comparable to esp device. I'd love to see a series reboot using pico w, cpp 17 etc

[@SinanAkkoyun]

I hope your friends and family are good and that you can mentally recover fast... Your tutorial series was splendid, one of a kind and super helpful. I hope you will return and show us how to fully exploit the ESP series!

[@Magic-Smoke]

Simon, thanks for the previous content. I understand your position and motivation (were I younger I would be in UKR helping) but I'm not sure I agree with your actions. I think you should finished the project you started on. You mentioned that you are still using your ESP32s - we are too. There's a big difference between using something that you already have and buying something new - you can't get the money you sent to Espressif/China back but you don't have to send more. Your series focussed on using C++ on Espressif and is useful - what it didn't do is promote the product so no harm is being done by showing one way of using the product. If you are saying that you are allowed to use your ESP32s but you're not going to share your knowledge then its up to you but you're not preventing anyone buying an ESP product - the vast majority of your viewers already have them - its not a beginners channel. So I'd urge you to reconsider, especially in the light of your redundancy - keep your skills sharp as you wait/search for a better job. Indeed, you demonstrate an evangelistic tendency for C++ - what better way of demonstrating that than to have this educational series to add to your CV? I could go on but I think you get the message - after all, if I were to stop using everything Made in in China in my home, it would be like going back to the stone age. As for the rare elements in my mobile phone mined by children in Africa.... Chin up, Simon, press on :) and thanks again.

[@DrGreenGiant]

Thank you so much for this. Very interesting perspective actually and gives me a lot of food for thought. Maybe this is possible then with a focus on the code, methodologies, best practices, etc. Leaves little time to "promote" the framework or hardware, which is a good thing for me morally. I'll give this some good thought, seems pretty convincing to be honest but I'll sleep on it first :) Thanks again, I appreciate it more than you know

[@airbeast5671]

The only right decision you could have made. The world is made of details, our little everyday decisions. If every human made these small but good decisions, the world would be a better place. I wholeheartedly support your choice. Besides that, there are tons of other platforms that are worth your attention. Personally, I would be interested in mcus which are based on RISC-V. Nevertheless, all the best to you and your loved ones. Ukraine will win!

[@steved1122]

Its Very difficult ! I support you!

[@iiilllii140]

Tough times, my dear friend. I hope all your friends stay safe in Ukraine. What more can I say: I can understand your reasoning entirely! War is so senseless, poor Ukrainians, stupid war!! Although I'm currently doing a project myself on the ESP32, I don't want to convince you to continue this series, this would be too selfish. If you currently are not able to do this, you have not to!! Nevertheless, I've found your channel lately and I will keep watching (hopefully your new upcoming videos) and support you, because you have already teached me a lot.

[@DrGreenGiant]

Not selfish at all. You're very much entitled to express your wishes, especially since I asked for them. :) Thanks for all the comments by the way. I have some thinking to do. Some thoughts have already been said that I hadn't considered before and that's a very good thing. Feel free to say what you like, I can always say no, but more importantly, if it's a take on things I've not considered it may help a lot

[@iiilllii140]

@Simon Howroyd As John Macrae already aptly mentioned in the comments, most of the viewers already have at least one ESP32 (I have to confirm, I already owned 2 before). Similiar with the battery market, it's the same with microprocessors there are only a few alternatives. People who are watching this are usually already familiar with the esp idf and you don't promote the product, instead you are promoting well written clean code. I see your series more as a "best practices" in C++ rather than a product promotion on the ESP32 (these are the ones called "how to get started with esp32" with barely any added value), to get better at coding standards and learning more about FreeRTOS. Switching to another microcontroller would be aok, because in the end your channel is about coding style, although I would prefer to stay in known waters.

[@wliterow]

please come back