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by bri3d 1472 days ago
> We should stick to standard Arduino code that should run on all compatible Arduino devices.

Why should the entire hobbyist hardware space be an Arduino monoculture?

IMO the Arduino proto-language and framework are quite mediocre and it's time to move on. For beginners, embedded hardware has gotten much more powerful and more familiar languages can be employed. For more advanced users and larger projects, using a real RTOS with a real task system unlocks development velocity in a huge way.

I don't really love CircuitPython, but I don't see how this is comparable to the Wiring/Arduino situation, nor do I really see it as a step backwards.

1 comments

The thing that bothers me about CircuitPython is that it’s unnecessarily fragmenting the ecosystem just for the gain of its creators. MicroPython was already around when it came about and it offers very little beyond what MicroPython already offers.

Arduino created the ecosystem, and while I agree it’s definitely a problematic way to approach things, I don’t really see a replacement for it in the C/C++ space currently. Using something like PlatformIO, which is almost objectively better from a developer perspective, is IMO not what I would consider a replacement. My hope is that eventually embedded Rust will have something beginner friendly like what Arduino offers but I don’t even see the nascent beginnings of something like that currently.