You can use the same Arduino IDE now. Which makes more sense depends on your needs; if you're heavily invested in the Arduino ecosystem (primarily add-on board

You can use the same Arduino IDE now. Which makes more sense depends on your needs; if you're heavily invested in the Arduino ecosystem (primarily add-on boards) it might not be a great fit. But for a GP board with enough GPIO to get small things done, it's a great board, and just as easy to use. For example, I have a number of lights hooked up to it using SSRs. I use it more as a peripheral chip rather than a main controller, because it's so ridiculously cheap and easy to use. Where I used to use IR comms to hook together small devices (light/power controllers, sensors) I use these now.