5 ms·

I'd never want to write microcontroller code in js or even really python. You spend most of your time moving strongly typed data around so yea, it's more acces

I'd never want to write microcontroller code in js or even really python. You spend most of your time moving strongly typed data around so yea, it's more accessible but you can't really do anything serious unless you're at least using a language with a reasonable type system.

turbinerneiter 7y ago
Try it. MicroPython/CircuitPython is the funnest thing ever. And you can do all the serious things you need. There is nothing you can't do in MicroPython. And if you need to do stuff fast, writing C libraries is quite easy. It's totally fair to not like it and for sure it has strengths and weaknesses, problems where its a good fit and problems where it is a bad fit - but don't dismiss it. It's simply to good for that.
- AWildC182 7y ago
  I know it's heresy but I don't really enjoy python in general. I only really use it for tooling and I find the environment is really annoying. I'm generally a big rust for uC advocate though.
  - turbinerneiter 7y ago
    Rust is really great for microcontrollers, the Embedded WG is doing great work!
jschwartzi 7y ago
I think that languages like JavaScript or Python really shine is when you need to iterate quickly to understand your problem space. And where they suck is when you're trying to maintain some really prickly logic that someone "clever" wrote. But you can also get into the same kind of trouble in C++ or C. My favorite example of that is the system that a contractor wrote for us using bitwise logic and dual-nested loops that worked perfectly for function but each time we needed to make a change we needed at least 3 days to re-read the code for understanding. It passed all of our system-level and integration-level testing but if you put any one of us on the spot about how it actually worked we would have been screwed.

5 ms·

I'd never want to write microcontroller code in js or even really python. You spend most of your time moving strongly typed data around so yea, it's more acces

by AWildC182 7y ago

turbinerneiter 7y ago
Try it. MicroPython/CircuitPython is the funnest thing ever. And you can do all the serious things you need. There is nothing you can't do in MicroPython. And if you need to do stuff fast, writing C libraries is quite easy. It's totally fair to not like it and for sure it has strengths and weaknesses, problems where its a good fit and problems where it is a bad fit - but don't dismiss it. It's simply to good for that.
- AWildC182 7y ago
  I know it's heresy but I don't really enjoy python in general. I only really use it for tooling and I find the environment is really annoying. I'm generally a big rust for uC advocate though.
  - turbinerneiter 7y ago
    Rust is really great for microcontrollers, the Embedded WG is doing great work!
jschwartzi 7y ago
I think that languages like JavaScript or Python really shine is when you need to iterate quickly to understand your problem space. And where they suck is when you're trying to maintain some really prickly logic that someone "clever" wrote. But you can also get into the same kind of trouble in C++ or C. My favorite example of that is the system that a contractor wrote for us using bitwise logic and dual-nested loops that worked perfectly for function but each time we needed to make a change we needed at least 3 days to re-read the code for understanding. It passed all of our system-level and integration-level testing but if you put any one of us on the spot about how it actually worked we would have been screwed.