Hi guys, in my computer science class we are going to be learning about Arduino coding and Arduino related stuff (my class is majority Arduino lovers, java and c / c++ . They refuse my preaching of c#). My teacher will probably make me buy a $30 Arduino from him so that I can learn with he class but im sure that I can do almost all Arduino things on a Cerbuino. Just an update on my situation. Ill try to be an amazing coder doing stuff in a quarter the time it takes them so that they may convert to the holy fez religion
I know some forums that refuse to help people with homework, like stack overflow and others, but what are your opinions on this? If not I can fallback on RLP once I learn how to get it working.
Also a Cerbuino can be powered by an Arduino power cable right? It wont be too high or low?
Thank you everyone
We won’t DO your homework for you but if there is anything you want to learn; we’d teach.
Yes Cerb can be powered by USB power. Cerb is pin compatible with Ardunio so using it in place won’t be a problem.
If the teacher demands that you use Arduino then that is what you must do. In the real world this will happen to you all the time. it would not be realistic to ask your entire team to change platforms, because you think C# is a bettter tool.
Also , you are there to learn so what would be the point in using what you already know. There is real benifit it having experience on a plurality of platforms And if you ever do want to convince people that say C# netmf is best, they will be a lot more receptive if you have good hands on experience of the alternatives.
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Hagster has a point; but just remember: The teacher is SELLING you the devices, so they have a vested interested in Arduino with a biased position.
I agree with @ Hagster. You’ll never convince anyone that NETMF is better if you can’t talk both sides from experience.
Just be thankful that your class is using Arduino and not some of the other platforms. I’ve been tutoring local college students in their MCU class that uses the BASIC Stamp platform. It doesn’t even support decimal number types!
@ ianlee74 - I presume you mean floating point.
Yes. That falls within the decimal number types.
During most of my career, I have been involved with “big iron”. I been interested in the micro processor arena for a fairly short time as a hobby. It’s pretty obvious to me that anyone who expects to be knowledgeable in this area needs to know at least enough about Arduino to be aware of strengths and weaknesses. None of the various families are appropriate for all solutions.
BTW - I would guess that the instructor is “selling” the boards to ensure that all have one and that everyone has the same version. He/she doesn’t want to hear things like “I just remembered to order mine last night. It’s coming from China so it won’t be here for two weeks.”
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@ suitable1 - Yeah the instructor isn’t really making a profit, this is Canadian money remember. I guess ill get an Arduino. I don’t know how long ill last though without the familiar c#.
If ghi can somehow get Arduino code to work on the fez through some rlp magic trickery then that would just be amazing.
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@ suitable1 - Yeah the instructor isn’t really making a profit, this is Canadian money remember. I guess ill get an Arduino. I don’t know how long ill last though without the familiar c#. [/quote]
Don’t be afraid. If you can write C#, you’ll have no problem picking up Arduino. They’re both built on C.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on GHI to do that but it would be a fun project for a student to take on as an open source project. That’s the sort of project that could help you land your first job after you graduate. 
@ hagster - Depends on what the teacher is trying to teach. For example at University many years ago we were asked to write 68000 assembler code on a MTU (system from hell where the 68000 was a slave to a 6502, and I loved the 8" floppies), so we convinced him that we would do the same assignment using Atari ST’s and actually learn more about the topic of 68000 assembler and hardware interfaces as we would have more time for coding and experimenting, then having to fight with the MTU’s. Needless to say he was all in agreement. So the question is more what is the topic being taught, and if Arduino is the best or only medium for the lesson for the student or if they can learn the same material another way. When students are asked to cough up money for assignments, but have another option that allows them to learn the same material without a cost, then I’d say that is a valid argument for using the cheaper solution.
Certainly when I taught at University I was open to alternative methods to learn the same material, but then again I didn’t really have to care as exams were the same for everyone, so either you learned the course material or you failed the exams and hence the course. I know I was a bit of a menace at University when I was a student as typically the only time I ever showed up at University was to write the exams.
Certainly I’d like to find out what city this is in as hopefully there is someone there who can give that teacher/school a demo as to what alternative solutions are available.