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Home > IoT & Hardware > Single Board Computers > Learning C for Arduino
Learning C for Arduino
Learning C for Arduino

Learning C for Arduino: A comprehensive guide that will help you ace C's fundamentals using the powerful Arduino board

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Profile Icon Omar Faruk Towaha
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€20.98 €29.99
Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2.9 (8 Ratings)
eBook Mar 2017 378 pages 1st Edition
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Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Omar Faruk Towaha
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€20.98 €29.99
Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2.9 (8 Ratings)
eBook Mar 2017 378 pages 1st Edition
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Learning C for Arduino

Chapter 2. Our First Program!

In this chapter, we will be learning how to connect our Arduino to our system and make it ready for uploading our very first C program with Arduino IDE.

Let's get started. I am assuming you have got your own Arduino Uno and an A-B cable to connect it to your PC. If you haven't, I recommend you pick up an Arduino Uno (any version will do, but Arduino Uno is preferred) and follow this chapter. You can buy Arduinos from any electronics shop or order online. You can go to https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/buy to find a store in your locality to buy an Arduino.

Connecting your Arduino

In the previous chapter, we learned how to connect an Arduino to our system. Let's do it again.

First, connect your A-B cable to your PC, and then connect the cable to the board. Your PC will make a sound to confirm that the Arduino has connected to the PC, and the on-board on/off LED will turn on.

Now open the Arduino IDE. From the menu, go to Tools | Board | Arduino/Genuino Uno. You can select any board you have bought from the list. See the following screenshot for the list:

Connecting your Arduino

Now let's do the tricky part. You have to select the port on which the Arduino is connected. There are a lot of things you can do to find out. We will discuss few of them in Chapter 10, Few Error Handlings. If you have the latest version of Arduino IDE and go to Tools | Port , and you will see a bunch of port lists, but on the port on which your Arduino is connected, you will see something similar to the following. In my case, it is port number COM13 (on Windows). Select the...

Hello Arduino!

Let's write our first program on the Arduino IDE. Go to File and click New. A text editor will open with a few lines of code. Delete those lines first. Then, on the editor section, type the following code. Don't worry, the code will be explained later:

void setup() { 
  Serial.begin(9600); 
} 
 
void loop() { 
  Serial.print("Hello Arduino!\n"); 
}

From the menu, go to Sketch and click Upload. It is a good practice to verify/compile the code before uploading it to the Arduino board. There will be a prompt to save the code on your system. Just give it any name you want and save it. To verify/compile the code, you need to go to Sketch and click Verify/Compile. You will see the message Done Compiling  on the bottom of the IDE if the code is error-free. See the following screenshot:

Hello Arduino!

After the successful upload, you need to open the Serial Monitor of the Arduino IDE. To open the Serial Monitor, you need to go to Tools and click Serial Monitor...

Things to remember

The following sections cover some things you need to remember.

Watch your case

C is case sensitive. So, we need to take care about what we type, or our code won't compile. For example, loop() and Loop() are not the same thing in C. We cannot use serial.print("Hello Arduino!"); instead of Serial.print("Hello Arduino!");.

Don't forget your semicolon!

Now look at the following code. Can you tell where it went wrong?

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(9600)
 Serial.println("Arduino is fun");
}
void loop() {
}

Exactly! On the second line, we missed a semicolon. Let's see if our Arduino IDE can detect the error. We wrote the code in the editor of our Arduino IDE and clicked the verify button (Don't forget your semicolon!), and found the following result:

Don't forget your semicolon!

From this screen, we can see that our Arduino IDE could detect the error. The log (the black portion of the Arduino IDE) shows where the error occurred. The log says,  expected ';' before 'Serial...

Summary

In this chapter, we have learned how to connect the Arduino to our system and how to verify/compile the code. We then uploaded some sample code to our board. We have learned how the Arduino code works. We also learned how to play with an LED. We made the LED blink indefinitely. I would suggest you change the delay time and play with the blinking code. Who knows, you might find something interesting or invent a Morse-code generator!

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Key benefits

  • Get hands-on experience with the Ardruino board and learn to control it with your programming skills
  • Learn the essential concepts of C such as variables, data structures, functions, loops, and pointers
  • Work with electronic devices such as LEDs, switches, and motors and connect them to Arduino using C

Description

This book will start with the fundamentals of C programming and programming topics, such data types, functions, decision making, program loops, pointers, and structures, with the help of an Arduino board. Then you will get acquainted with Arduino interactions with sensors, LEDs, and autonomous systems and setting up the Arduino environment. Moving on you will also learn how to work on the digital and analog I/O, establish serial communications with autonomous systems, and integrate with electronic devices. By the end of the book, you will be able to make basic projects such as LED cube and smart weather system that leverages C.

Who is this book for?

This book is for hobbyists who have no knowledge about programming and microcontrollers, but are keen to learn C programming using a very affordable hardware device.

What you will learn

  • Play with mathematical operations using C
  • Use logical operations and loops to play with LEDs and the Arduino board
  • Create custom functions using C and connect an SD card to the Arduino
  • Use Object-oriented Programming to connect a GSM module to the Arduino board
  • Play with an LCD board and Servo using standard Arduino libraries
  • Build projects using Arduino such as a LED cube, a smart weather system, and home security
  • Identify and fix common errors on an Arduino board

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Mar 24, 2017
Length: 378 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781787123571
Category :
IoT & Hardware
Languages :
C
Concepts :
Single Board Computers
Tools :
Embedded Systems

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Product Details

Publication date : Mar 24, 2017
Length: 378 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781787123571
Category :
IoT & Hardware
Languages :
C
Concepts :
Single Board Computers
Tools :
Embedded Systems

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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
1. Getting Started Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
1. Getting Started
Arduino
Exploring Arduino Uno
Downloading and installing Arduino IDE
Explore Arduino IDE
Summary
2. Our First Program! Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Our First Program!
Connecting your Arduino
Hello Arduino!
Things to remember
Summary
3. Exploring C with Arduino IDE Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Exploring C with Arduino IDE
Variables
Data types
Collecting and showing data through serial port
Strings and operations with strings
Summary
4. Blinking with Operations and Loops Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Blinking with Operations and Loops
Expression in C
Logical operators
Exercises
Loops
Exercise
Summary
5. Functions and Files with Arduino Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Functions and Files with Arduino
Functions
Data logging
Connecting an SD card to your Arduino
Writing on a file
Summary
6. Arduino and C++ Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Arduino and C++
Object Oriented Programming
Going deeper into class
Understanding OOP better
Fundamentals of OOP
GSM modules
Arduino library
Making a call using GSM module
Sending an SMS
Receiving an SMS
Summary
7. Using Pointers and Structure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Using Pointers and Structure
Pointers
Pointers and arrays
Usages of pointers
Learning about structure
Structure and function
Nested structure
Exercise
Summary
8. Working with Arduino Libraries Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Working with Arduino Libraries
Arduino library
The Firmata library
The SoftwareSerial library
Uses of LiquidCrystal Library
Installing a library
Removing a library
Creating our own library
Summary
9. Lets Build Something Awesome Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Lets Build Something Awesome
LED cube
Smart weather system
Home security
Summary
10. Few Error Handlings Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Few Error Handlings
Few common errors
Auto-reset
Bootloader
java.lang.StackOverflowError
Arduino software freeze when I try to upload a program
Board doesn't turn on (the green power LED doesn't light up)
Get an error when launching arduino.exe on Windows
Could not find the main class
Cygwin conflicts on Windows
Tools | Serial Port menu is not visible
Sketch appear to upload successfully but not do anything
Undeclared functions or undeclared types error
Invalid device signature when trying to upload a sketch
'xxx' does not name a type error
Library is not Installed properly
Wrong folder location
Library dependencies
Wrong library name
Wrong folder name
Forgot to close the Arduino IDE
Check your hardware connections
Check the coding syntax error
Use serial monitor
Stay connected with the Arduino forum
Summary

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2.9
(8 Ratings)
5 star 37.5%
4 star 0%
3 star 12.5%
2 star 12.5%
1 star 37.5%
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John LISOWSKI Aug 22, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Fillock Jul 25, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is the best book for learning C / C++ that I come across (despite it's name; "Learning C for Arduino" the book is also about OOP, C and C++ concepts). If your in for the Arduino, this book teach you how to write effective code for the Arduino platform, and also shows you the smaller tweeks needed to make the C++ concepts work on the Arduino platform.The best about the book is how it explains the hard parts of C++ in a simple and easy way. Every general C++ book I have read struggle trying to do so, but this book does it specially good. The book helped me break down difficult C++ concepts to understandable chunks, explained in small practical code examples, where the concepts come in use and make sense to me.If there is a downside to this book, it's how it's using almost half the book explaining the syntax an simple things in C, surely it's important for the absolut beginner. But for someone with a little experience in coding this part feels a little over-done.Overall I love this book, it helped me reach my next level in C++. I would recommend it to everyone interested in learning C / C++ coding, even if you are not interested in Arduino.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Towaha Apr 10, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book does not teach actual C. It teaches the combination of C and C++. I was a complete dummy before buying my first Arduino. I started reading the book and followed all the line by line words of the book. Finally, I got this book very interesting. The author did do a great effort trying to explain things shortly. To me, it is the best book I borrowed from the school library in programming.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Rosco Bell Apr 05, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
As a newcomer to Arduino and C programming, I would have appreciated if the book had included solutions to the various exercises, especially in the earlier chapters. I wasted a lot of time trying to solve certain exercises and eventually just gave up on them, effectively learning nothing from them, certainly not what the author had in mind in devising them. Since there is no teacher available to answer questions, there should be some way to get an answer that doesn't involve hours of frustrating trial and error.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer May 22, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2
It's not easy to understand for the beginners.
Amazon Verified review Amazon

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About the author

Profile icon Omar Faruk Towaha
Omar Faruk Towaha
Github icon
Syed Omar Faruk Towaha is a data scientist, and currently working at Meta. He has two bachelor's degrees, one in Physics, another in Computer Science and a Master's in Data Science. He is based in London, England, and has interests in data science and IoTs. While Syed is not busy with his jobs, he uses his time to write something about new technologies. His recent publications include Building Smart Drones With ESP8266 and Arduino, Introduction to Rust Programming, Learning C for Arduino, and JavaScript Projects for Kids.
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