Which programming language does Arduino use? The answer to this question is different languages. Ardunio uses multiple languages. It depends on the programmer’s capability of working with a particular language.
A few of the popular Arduino programming languages are ArduBlock, Snap4Arduino, C#, and Python.
ArduBlock
Arduino block is a programming language having a visual interface. The Arduino block is used to program Arduino boards. Ardublock uses graphical symbols to write code. ArduBlock adapts to computer language automatically.
Ardublock programs are converted to C programming language. The blocks created in Ardublock are converted into C programs. The Ardublock toolbox contains tools required to develop the desired programs.
To display the number of blocks available the button “Engduino” provides you with the available blocks. The “Engduino” has “Set All LEDs” that is used to set all the LEDs available and put them on the loop. The “Control” category has the option “delay MILLIS”. This complete a simple example of Ardublock. The completed example is uploaded to Engduino.
Snap4Arduino
Snap4Arduino is a visual programming language. This programming language operates with the Arduino boards. ansp4Arduino is inherited from Snap. Snap is an improved version of Scratch. Snap4Arduino is a block-based programming language. Snap4Arduino is dynamic programming. Snap4Arduino supports a live programming environment. Snap4Arduino supports concurrent programming. Anap4Arduino supports parallel programming.
Snap4Arduino has wide support for Arduino boards. Snap4Arduino firmware is Firmata. Pinouts of this language are auto-configurable and hardware abstraction is high-level. Snap4Arduino supports interaction with multiple boards simultaneously. Sanp4Arduino also has a desktop version.
Snap4Arduino has an online version that supports the connection of Arduino boards using chrome plugins. Snap4Arduiono is freeware and comes under the license of Afero GPLv3.This language is capable of making the translation of Arduino scripts into Arduino sketches.
Snap4Arduino has well-established support for HTTP protocol that can be used to control board circuits using a remote control. Snap4Arduino programming language can also be used to do live streamings. All this is done using Command Line versions of the Snap4Arduino.
Snap4Arduino has a desktop version for Linux, MacOSX, and Microsoft Windows. To install Snap4Arduino StandardFirmata is required in the Arduino board.
C#
To establish a connection with the computer Serial communication is required. A library such as CmdMessanger is used to code Arduino boards. The library CmdMessenger can be executed on Microsoft Visual Studio or another third-party tool. Then C# is used to establish communication between the computer and the Arduino board. The C# variables, functions, and classes are used to make communications.
C# is an Object-Oriented Language. All these Object-Oriented languages are used to create scripts. C# is used to create Variables, Functions, and Classes.
Variables in C# sharp are used to store values. Variables can also store object references.
Functions in C# consist of a sequence of lines of code that are combined together to build blocks of programming instructions. Functions contain variables, control statements, and decision statements. These statements use variables that manipulate variables. These functions can be called as and when required and from multiple locations in the developed program.
Class in C# encapsulates data member and member functions. Classes can have three types of access specifiers – Internal, Protected Internal, and Private. The internal class specifier is used to specify that data members and member functions accessibility is limited to and restricted to the current assembly. A protected Internal class specifier is used to specify that access is confined to the current assembly or the data member and member functions declared as protected internal are accessible to derived classes. When the class uses the access specifier Protected then data member and member functions are accessible within the class only and not outside the class.
The variables in C# scripts contain public or private keywords. When the data member is declared as public it is accessible within the class member functions and when the data member is declared as private then it is not accessible within the member functions of the class.
Private variables are accessible within the class and these variables can be manipulated with the member functions of the class. All the variables declared as private are easily traceable during the debugging phase.
All the variables declared as public are accessible within the class and outside of the class. Since these variables are accessible through the script they are more error-prone and tracing them during the debugging phase is a cumbersome process.
Variables in C# scripts can hold values of type number, text/strings, and other complex values. The name of the variables in C# can not begin with digits, and spaces within the name are not allowed. C# use Camel case naming conventions.
Classes consist of variables and functions. The restriction with class name is that its name must match with that of the name of the C# script that is the name of the class should be the same as that of the C# file name.
Class in C# can be declared as private or as public. The class in the C# script can also be declared as serializable.
C# script can contain if statements, for loops, D-While loop, for each loop. The loops in C# are used to repeat a particular set of instructions.
Python
Python can be used to establish the connection between the Arduino board and computer. This connection is serial.
Python is developed to write programs that are easily readable. Keywords of the Python programming language are written using English alphabet characters. Python does not use curly brackets to define the scope of the block. To define the scope of the Python Indentation is used. To signify the end of the block, the Indentation level is decreased. Thus indentation in Python has predefined meaning.
Python supports assignment statements to assign values of one variable into another variable. Python also supports the if statement which is a decision statement, this statement is used for conditional execution of the set of programming instructions.
To repeatedly execute a set of programming instructions Python uses for statement, while statement in C language this is also known as loops. Statements within the loops are executed till the loop condition becomes false. To stop the execution of the loop break statement is used. To skip execution of a particular set of instructions within the loop continue statement is used.
If an error occurs at runtime that error can be handled using the try…except…finally block. If programming instructions written within the try block raise an error then that error is handled using the except block. The code within the except block gets executed when an error is raised in the try block. Programming instructions within the finally block will always be executed whether an error is raised within the try block or not.
To support the Object-Oriented programming principles Class is used. The class has data member and member functions. The member function may return values. The values can be returned using the return statement.
Python supports del statement this statement deletes the reference from the variable name to its value, if this variable is used again then an error is generated.
Python also supports with statement, this statement contains a code block.
Python also supports pass statement, this statement is used to create code blocks that do not contain any programming instructions.
Python also contains a def statement, this statement is used to define and declare different functions.
Python also contains a raise statement, a raise statement is used to raise and reraise exceptions.
The import statement in Python is used to import different functions or modules with the current program.
Python supports addition, subtraction, and multiplication operators to build expressions. These operators are binary and thus require two operands to be operated upon. The division operator of Python programming language has two types of working first, floor division, second, floating-point division.
Python supports Boolean operators such as and, or and not. Python does not use symbol &&, ||, ! for Boolean operators.
Python also supports Conditional Expression. Conditional expression in Python is written as x if c else y.
Python supports string format operator %. This format operator is used to format string output. Python also supports string concatenation. The “+” operator is used to concatenate strings. This is a binary operator and takes two arguments to work on. These two arguments must be within quotation marks. For example, string “my” and string “street” can be concatenated using the “+” operator like this “my”+” street” results in “mystreet”.
Python supports a comparison operator, this operator is used to compare numeric values or values contained with the objects.
Python supports lists and tuples. Lists are declared within square brackets and tuples are declared within parenthesis. The tuples can be concatenated using the + operator. The + operator takes two tuples and combines them to produce a new tuple that contains the value of both the tuples.
Python supports Object-Oriented Programming language and supports class. Class is used to achieve the functionality of encapsulation due to which data member and member functions declared within the class can not be used outside of the class.
Python supports typed objects and variable names are untyped. Operators take specific types of values these values must be compatible with the operator definition. This operator definition is checked at compile time. If the definition of the operator is not satisfied then it will evoke errors and because of this, it is said that Python is a strongly typed language.
Python also supports user-defined types. The user-defined types can be created using classes and these are mostly used in Object-Oriented programming language.
Python supports built-in data types. These built-in data types include bool, bytes, float, int, list, range, set, str, tuple, ellipsis, and frozenset. Bool type accepts a Boolean value, bytes accepts byte sequence, the ellipsis is a placeholder that can be used to declare index, float accepts floating-point numbers, frozenset is used to make sure that set does not contain any duplicate values. str type is used to define character string. A tuple is used to define mixed types.
Python supports Object-Oriented programming paradigm and supports structured programming. Python also supports functional programming. Pythons also support Logic Programming.
Python supports both early binding and late binding. Both early binding and late binding determine the techniques used during Python program execution. This technique determines how the expression will be evaluated.
Python has well-established and tested inbuilt libraries. Python has a vast range library that includes a library for database interaction. Python also has a library that provides functions related to the graphical user interface. If the Python program wants to interact with another computer on the internet or the program wants to pass messages to other computers on the network then to achieve this functionality python supports a library that has functions that can be executed to perform functions related to the network communication. Python also supports libraries that support web-based application development.
Python programs are platform-independent that is programs developed in python can be executed on any hardware configuration and any operating system. Python is an Open Source programming language and can be downloaded and used as required.
Python supports a wide variety of character sets. Python supports digits within the range of 0 to 9. Python also supports special symbols, white spaces, and other ASCII and Unicode characters.
Identifiers in Python is the smallest unit which includes punctuation marks and individual words. Python supports keywords, literals, operators, etc.
There are two types of modules first, Predefined Modules and Second, User Defined Modules. All library modules are predefined modules. The library modules are used to do mathematical operations. Those operations that are not defined in predefined modules are carried out by user-defined modules.
All user-defined modules are programmer-defined. User-defined modules can be called from other classes of Python programs.
To import modules import keyword is used. The entire module can be imported or selected objects within a module can be imported.
The syntax of importing a module is:
Import <module_name>
module_name is the name of the module to be imported.
To import selected objects from a specific module following syntax is used.
from<module_name>import<object_name>
module_name is the name of the module from which a specific object is to be imported, object_name is the name of the specific object that needs to be imported.
When the module is imported from the library then the interpreter of python interprets the module code and when the module code is interpreted then it is executed. When the module is interpreted then functions contained with the module are executed. The imported module is used with a new namespace.
Python is a programming language that implements Object-Oriented Programming language. The main influencer of the Python programming language is ABC and Modula-3.
Python is appreciated and promoted by Google. Python has a simple syntax that makes programmers feel that python is an easy language. Python has a rich set of libraries that includes a specific library for database, a specific library for GUI, a specific library for Network-based applications, and a specific library for web-based applications.
Python can also be used to develop computer games and it can also be used to develop scripts that are used in varied applications. Prototypes can also be developed in Python.
Following are the components of Python:
- Literals
- Data types
- Functions that are related to input/output
- Operators that include mathematical and non-mathematical operators
- Control Structures such as if statement and loops
- Strings and string related functions
- Python also has list, Tuple, and Dictionaries and their related functions and methods
- Python supports functions and modules
- Python also supports different types of Punctuators, Punctuators in Python are used to format print statements, to be used in expressions and to be used in Python programs.
