4 ms·

A very useful project for anyone learning python & coding micro controllers eg. students.

• bhhaskin 9y ago
  Wouldn't it be better to have students learn on hardware itself? I guess if the chips are write only or are too hard to flash it would make since. Or if cost was a limiting factor.
  • askvictor 9y ago
    Generally speaking, yes, it would. Micropython runs on both esp8266 (a couple of dollars for a board) and micro:bit (designed for education); so cost isn't a factor. Uploading/flashing code is annoying on the esp8266 (though decent tooling would assist with that). I think for students real hardware is much more useful - this is probably going to be more useful for people actually trying to build something (not that students should be excluded from that, but the target is different)
    • msl 9y ago
      > Uploading/flashing code is annoying [...] A nice thing about MicroPython is that you only need to flash the chip once - at least if it has enough flash storage to support a file system. Once flashed, you can work on a REPL (over either UART or WLAN) and write files.
      • askvictor 9y ago
        Indeed; although tooling to easily get files on there is still pretty immature (way too hard for beginners)
  • dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Wouldn't it be better to have students learn on hardware itself? You can probably iterate more rapidly on the emulator; it's not like this and real hardware are mutually exclusive, just as using, say, an Android emulator in development and also real devices aren't mutually exclusive, but things people do together. “Wouldn't X be better?” is only meaningful if the options are mutually exclusive.