Which Arduino IDE should I use?

[@TheStudpop]

I’m a 65 year old electrical HW/SW engineering guy (yes, I cut my teeth on vacuum tube circuits and B&W TVs with round picture tubes). These days I make a living designing my own line of magnetic stud finders and I’m manufacturing them in my injection mold factory. Lots of very old machines from the 60s that use mechanical relays to perform their functions--no microprocessors at all. Just relays. And nothing but red wire. Everywhere. And did I mention that there’s no documentation?Needless to say they are extremely difficult to repair. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to look at ways to bring their automation forward by 60 years. The Arduino was an obvious choice but I had zero experience programming in “C” code. Enter KZbin with its thousands of tutorials on the subject. Anyway, all that to say, yours are by far the best! Your calm voice, your clever presentation along with your almost subliminal humorous snippets, make for an awesome learning experience. I’ve done a lot of video editing so I know how much work goes into your well crafted productions. So keep up the great work and thank you.

[@samdeur]

Totally agree with what your said.. 46yr guy here getting started with programming.. And this youtube channel has bin a big help.. I'm going back to school crazy time.. hahaha

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks a ton - really appreciate the note! And I am glad these are able to help some! Our editor Josh is responsible for most the subliminal humor snippets :)

[@robthom09]

I’m 64, and now retired. I was initially programming machine code, but used about 9 different languages , mostly proprietary, thru the years. Didn’t work with Vac tubes, but had friends that did. Even used paper tape readers, and keypunch for FORTRAN with batch readers. Now arduino and micropython,, cool stuff and keeps our mind sharp.

[@samdeur]

@@programmingelectronics Best wishes from The Netherlands to you and the team & all your loved ones.. True Christmas spirit is sharing knowledge making it accessible to everyone like you guys are doing.. Real OpenSource spirit..

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks @@samdeur !!

[@harrytsang1501]

Platform IO is the best because you get actual code completion

[@fritanke2318]

To me It's the best because it's not bloated. My installation came in at a few 100MB not +GB.

[@obiwanjacobi]

And there is Platform IO...

[@randyriegel8553]

I haven't used an Arduino IDE since PlatformIO came out. It's much more refined than any of the Arduino IDE.

[@LargeNuts]

It's nice but way too complicated for beginners.

[@adameichler]

It's nice once you finally manage to create the project config file :)

[@faisal7823]

What about the arduino cli (Command line interface) I wish if you talked about it

[@programmingelectronics]

I have not used it much but would love to do an episode on it! Thanks for this recommendation!

[@winandd8649]

What about library management? The very first versions of the Arduino IDE had a simple 'libraries' folder where you could put yourr libraries in. In later versions, the IDE *also* started to use a central libraries folder somewhere deep in the Windows directry structure. That's where it all got bad.. I had conflicting libraries (same name but different code), old sketches didn't work anymore, etc.. When i had to update a sketch after, let's say, 2 years, with the old version i could have an instance of the IDE especially for that project, with all folders and libraries. Now, with the central stored libraries it's a hassle.. Just stay in the Arduino folder please! :-( I hate that, it used to be so simple.

[@crckdns]

Watched whole video just due to interest on view perspective of others :) good overview! Yet nothing of those 3 can replace platform IO installed on Visual Code, where I've moved to years ago for more functionality :D

[@neriyarosenthal2257]

6:00 If you enable Dev Mode, you can get both IDEs with Linux. This is what I do. Dev Mode is usually blocked by schools and such, so yeah, the web editor is helpful.

[@muhammadhabibalkhairi7946]

5:25 No, we can do that too in basic Arduino IDE, just Enable Code Folding on Preference.

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks for that!!! I didn't realize that Muhammad!

[@glasslinger]

I use the original but now will load up the version 2, which I didn't know existed. (shows how much I program arduinos!) Visual studio I find too overwhelming to learn. (I'm an old TurboC user!)

[@timaverbeck9027]

Great overview of the three options. I have never considered the web based IDE but you have me thinking this might be a great option to resurrect an old laptop as an Arduino programming machine.

[@programmingelectronics]

Not a bad idea at all! I have several old laptops just collecting dust in a closet...

[@Henry-sv3wv]

you can also try wokwi as an online arduino simulator

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

platform io

[@Cynical_Engineer]

Represent!

[@programmingelectronics]

I will have to check out platform io! Thanks for the recommendation!

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

@@programmingelectronics If Arduino is your thing the Arduino IDE is probably best - the PIO has a few more features but i like the Arduino library manager better and it is way more comprehensive .

[@kihestad]

@@ianbertenshaw4350 "probably best" is a bold assumption 😬 I have played around with Arduino from time to time using the IDE. Started a bigger project some months ago and switched to PlatformIO on VS Code. It's like replacing a 20 years old car to a new one 😁

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

@@kihestad Mainly because there is a vast library for many different sensors and millions of projects out there that were programmed with the Arduino ide etc but Platform io has so many more useful features . Take a look at the newest Arduino beta version and you will see that they are trying to step up to the plate an try to run with platform io . One really useful thing with platform io is as a library is updated it doesn’t automatically update the library you used in a program every time you compile it so you can have old and new versions of the same library available to use - it can be annoying to upload a sketch you wrote a year or two ago and it worked fine with whatever sensors you used but the new one doesn’t because a library has updated and won’t work with that sensor anymore . I still think the newcomers would be better off starting with the Arduino ide as it has an excellent section for learning how to programme and support via the Arduino forum .

[@DO2VI]

Thank you for the great information in the video. I'm looking for a video that explains how OTA is used with ESP 32. Can someone recommend good explanatory videos? Thanks.

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

Jullien speiss channel If you want to know anything about ESP32 he is your man.

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks a ton for watching! I think Ians recommendation is a good bet. I'll we what we can put together for some Over The Air updating info on the ESP32

[@DO2VI]

@@ianbertenshaw4350 Unfortunately I can't find the channel. Do you have a link for me? Thank you.

[@patrickmclaughlin6013]

@@DO2VI maybe not the same guy Andreas Spiess has a ton of esp32 videos, it's usually way over my head he gets deep and detailed

[@Programino]

Take a look on the Programino IDE :-)

[@bulldogcraft]

For beginners either Arduino 1.x or the Arduino IDE 2.x will be fine. For professionals 1.x is too basic and 2.x is ridiculously slow. I personally use Sublime Text with the Deviot package for day to day use because it's fast and I can work in a familiar environment. Trying to use 1.x or 2.x now is cringeworthy!

[@MTBiSLiVE]

Honestly just scrap all 3 of those and use vscode with the Arduino plugin or even better the platformio plugin

[@clems6989]

I downloaded vers: 2.3.2 And it us diferent than most of the videos on youtube. It gets confusing !

[@programmingelectronics]

I hear you! Do keep in mind that all the code stays the same, it it's just a different interface for writing in.

[@evanvenn]

And, there is Great Cow BASIC - the only open source compiler for 8bit AVRs. PICs and LGTs.

[@andre0baskin]

I use the IDE mostly to run library examples or other short prices of test code. For larger projects that include multiple source files and libraries I find PlatformIO on either VSCode or Atom to be a more robust solution.

[@harrytsang1501]

Yep, I only use the classic 1.x arduino ide to test stuff like turning a stepper. Anything else are moved to platform IO The classic arduino ide still has its place for requiring minimal setup to get going

[@markdebsauzzietravels]

Hi guys love your stuff BUT I hate that dark screen I seem to only see half of what is on the screen Cheers Mark

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks for bringing this up! Sometimes it is hard to tell what has a higher contrast - note taken - thanks!

[@zsteva]

vim.

[@mechee1747]

I personally use Visual Micro, a paid Visual Studio plugin. Features like auto complete and adding break points on there is quite useful!

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[@John_L]

I use Visual Micro too. It and the Visual Studio development environment is streets ahead of the Arduino IDEs especially for larger projects. VM is inexpensive and the support is excellent.

[@mechee1747]

@@John_L ​ The price is very fair IMO. It's hard to go back to the Arduino IDE after getting used to Visual Micro!

[@buggyant]

B4R from Anywhere Software.

[@programmingelectronics]

Very cool - have not seen this before!

[@StraitD2]

Do the IDE and dino version of Arduino utilize the same libraries? I am using the Arduino IDE now, and I want to uninstall the original arduino exe. Will this erase the libraries for the IDE?

[@programmingelectronics]

Great question! OK, the libraries you install are saved in the Arduino sketchbook folder which is NOT erased when you uninstall/reinstall the Arduino IDE (either 1 or 2) so you should be fine.

[@StraitD2]

@@programmingelectronics if I uninstall the original Arduino (Not IDE), will it affect the library?

[@tb303wpf1]

As always, great video. Super useful knowledge in a way that anyone can understand. One of the things I love about your videos and style of teaching, is that you show the little things that other instructors skip over. There are certain pieces of information that explain the what and why. Others assume that everyone automatically knows about coding already so they skip explaining the most important things IMO. You always focus on those. That makes your videos useful to everyone. Beginner, intermediate, master, and sorcerers like you alike. Thank you so much for this invaluable information.

[@jeffhulett4194]

Very informative video, I also visited your sponsor, Holy socks that’s some expensive software.

[@benchy5769]

Just switch to PlatformIO, it can be hard to switch it took me a while to get used to the function and create a project, but since Arduino IDE is a pain to get going on Linux I’m forced to use it

[@amos660]

emacs.

[@robotcantina8957]

does anyone know how the web based editor handles additional librarys? Are they installed on the cloud ?

[@Kikutuca]

Seems to be that for Digispark ATTiny85 board, the 2.0 RC version don't work, at least for programming the board. For the case, I suggest to use the 1.8 version instead, that works like a charm.

[@JeanCantalini]

Thanks for the help. I installed the ESP32 board package (ESP32 by espressif) and all the stuff in the Boards Manager is there but I can’t get a com! This is the output I get Failed uploading: no upload port provided. The following works fine, Arduino NANO ESP32, UNO, UNO R4 WiFi and UNO R2 WiFi.

[@seanocansey2956]

You can collapse code on the original IDE

[@johnklaus4776]

I did an arduino app using visual studio. I created stubs for the hardware functions, added a command line interface, and a timer emulation. I developed and debugged the app as a windows command line app. I tested with manual and automated unit tests using the command line app also. I only used the arduino ide for its target compiler and loader.

[@programmingelectronics]

Nice! That's impressive!

[@samdeur]

first of: Thank you for you great content best wishes to you and your loved ones greetings from The Netherlands. 46yr guy just started school a couple months ago to get my degree never done any programming. i used to work as a unix/linux sysadmin but my scripting skills were limited. At our university we had a manual that told us to install the original Arduino IDE and Visual Studio Code with But with an important addon PlatformIO it has 1050 boards to select great way to add Libraries .. a must see.. i will install the 2.0 arduino ide to look at thanks for the tip.. BTW i also have Visual Studio 2019 to do C# as we must learn the concepts of Object Oriented Programming..

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks a ton for watching!

[@thedrunknmunky6571]

PlatformIO is very powerful… but it definitely has a bit of a learning curve relative to Arduino… I’m thinking of making a video on it myself… do you think it’ll be useful?

[@nickstaresinic9933]

I'm comfortable working in VS code on non-Arduino s/ware products, so I'm much more comfortable with the PlatformIO extension.

[@samisiddiqi5411]

How can I set this up with Geany?

[@programmingelectronics]

Great question Sami! I have never used Geany before, but it looks like it may have some Arduino plugins. wiki.geany.org/config/arduino Best of luck!

[@KW-ei3pi]

My biggest gripe about the Arduino IDE is in opening a second, third, or forth file, and the window it pops up in is short and wide and I have to resize it, then spend some time sizing and arranging the windows I'm using. A LOT OF TIME !!! It seems like I spend half my time programing, sizing and arranging windows ! Any suggestions regarding this problem would be appreciated. Thanks

[@raul0ca]

Atmel Studio 🙃

[@timstrack4573]

This was great video

[@programmingelectronics]

Thank you!

[@patrickmclaughlin6013]

Is there any place to find a list of all the functions, commands, options, etc.. for Arduino code? Like a huge cheat sheet or reference? I guess for the libraries you can just shuffle around in the code to see what's what.

[@programmingelectronics]

Great question Patrick!! On the Arduino website they have what the call a reference: www.arduino.cc/reference/en/ I use almost every time I program Arduino to refer to info about the different functions and libraries. It's my favorite page on the Arduino website.

[@patrickmclaughlin6013]

@@programmingelectronics Thank You.

[@hobbyelectronics2121]

Thank you so much PEA for uploading such great video. I hope your Christmas is filled with joy and laughter this year

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks! Same to you and yours!

[@HolyPiyush]

Thank you for the information Very helpful 🇮🇳🇮🇳❤❤

[@programmingelectronics]

So glad it helped! Thanks for watching!

[@chesshooligan1282]

There's PlatformIO as well.

[@JeanCantalini]

How do I get com port for ESP32 espressif for windows 11? I tried CP210X universal Windows Driver V11.3.0 6/24/2023 I use Arduino IDE 2.2.1 with 115200 baud, but it didn’t work. The following works fine, Arduino UNO, UNO R4 WiFi and UNO R2 WiFi Please help.

[@programmingelectronics]

Have you installed the ESP32 board package?

[@ismartalluarjun]

Hi sir

[@bramSDASCL1759]

Still love the original ide,,

[@programmingelectronics]

Same here. I don't plan on ever not using it.

[@Cino2424]

@@programmingelectronics The original IDE is good for little projects or hardware testing. Quick´n dirty. But for bigger projects you need a masterpiece of IDE.

[@johnglielmi6428]

I use the 2.0 version, because I like to code offline mostly. The web browser wasn't much of an option for me. I also have the 1.89 version loaded as well.

[@programmingelectronics]

I'm right there with you. I have a hunch the online editor was born out of Arduino trying to get the Arduino IDE available to chrome books, which are very prevalent in many schools in the US. Seems to work well, but like you, I am more often using the offline editor.

[@johnglielmi6428]

@@programmingelectronics Agreed. I feel that education is very important. and it is much better for the educational community to have online versions of many software. I can't imagine the licensing fees the school systems has to pay every year. for some of the software used. I'm also 62 yrs young and I can remember back when the internet didn't even exist, nor did cell phones for that matter.

[@fredrikbergquist5734]

The IDE might be simple but setting up the serial port via usb was a hassle on my iMac. I think that AdaFruit is a viable alternative now when Arduino is leaving the open source world for the professional when the boards are getting really expensive for the hobbyist. You can’t have both idealists doing free work and at the same time making big money on the products. The same goes for RedHat Linux but that is a separate track. Speaking of being open: I loved the movie ”Rome - open city” but maybe we cannot dream ourselves back to then!

[@kaj-agehenneberg6312]

Great review. The new editor is nice. But now the serial plotter takes only 50 data points before scrolling. The old one takes 500 data points. The new is pretty useless for plotting running data acquisition.

[@tinkot]

Isn't it crazy he didn't even talk about platformio. Once you go you never go back

[@georgwrede7715]

With the original Arduino IDE, the absolutely most important thing for a newcomer is that tons of videos, examples, explanations, and peer advice simply work on it. -- With the two others, your mileage will vary. Whether you're a professional who has to quickly switch to Arduino, or a Newbie, in both cases you avoid a lot of unwelcome unpredictable snags in the instructions. -- Once you are up and running, then you may want to review the alternatives. And even then, you should need a Reason to switch, other than the Version Number being bigger or "cause the the Dark Mode".

[@programmingelectronics]

Good call!

[@IngeBall]

Love the last line cause it's true.

[@pwtprojects5610]

I use Sloeber (Eclipse Arduino), is more serious IDE, with some bugs and starts very slow....

[@0x8badbeef]

I stopped using 2.0. I went back to the original because I prefer to have the monitor as a separate window.

[@programmingelectronics]

I hear you, I miss a detachable serial monitor. (I think in early release of IDE they made it "move-able" to different layouts on the screen). I do like being able to close and/or expand the console space. i always felt like the console space in IDE 1 was a bit too generous when I didn't need to refer to it.

[@0x8badbeef]

@@programmingelectronics what I liked about 2.0 is I can use a different editor (vim) and it will automatically update so I can compile and upload. Another reason why I went back to the original was I didn't know there was a flag I could set to do the same thing.

[@pintokitkat]

You can collapse code on the standard IDE.

[@programmingelectronics]

Thanks! I had not realized that!

[@sys935]

Best video

[@cmu4331]

I think this is an important topic and I like that you covered all of the available options. But please remember your audience is going to be people who are typically bright and can grasp conceps quickly, so repeating yourself many times over is annoying and will likely lead to people dropping out of the video and not wanting to subscribe. I hope this feedback assists you - it is most certainly not ment to offend you!

[@poseiso]

Vim

[@collincharvat1082]

Platform io in vs code is definitely the way to go.

[@kundam12]

after arduino ide 2.0 my life is complited

[@programmingelectronics]

Nice! I know the Arduino team and community developing it loves to get feedback on the IDE through the Arduino forum.

[@kundam12]

@@programmingelectronics I suggest making that for every thing you write the program suggest you because for some command it doesn't work

[@ismartalluarjun]

Please make Arduino bluetooth mit app inventor app Relay on,. Off delay Time Send option

[@ismartalluarjun]

Hru sir

[@ismartalluarjun]

Please make Arduino bluetooth mit app inventor app Relay on,. Off delay Time Send option

[@LargeNuts]

Totally left out the fact that Arduino makes you pay for a subscription for the online editor of ya need more than 200 seconds of compilation a day. I use that after an hour of working on a project.