6 ms·

Arduboy: The Interactive Digital Business Card

61 points by yammesicka 13y ago

thaJeztah 13y ago
Nice!
ddod 13y ago
I think there's a great opportunity for someone to release a simple, programmable Gameboy-esque device that runs Javascript or something similarly noob-friendly to give people (and kids) a less friction-filled path to learning programming. This might not be the device for that, but it's a really cool project nevertheless.
- buro9 13y ago
  It could definitely use http://www.espruino.com/About http://www.espruino.com/About as a starting point. "Espruino is a small computer that anyone can use to control things around them. Its JavaScript interpreter gives you instant feedback so that you can experiment and develop whatever your level of experience."
- sdegutis 13y ago
  With all of JavaScript's odd quirks, I have a hard time believing that it's noob- or kid-friendly.
  - bsder 13y ago
    Do you remember the quirks in BASIC? Good grief. In fact, Javascript comes out best exactly because it tries to do something sane rather than just fail.
- Morgawr 13y ago
  Javascript... what an odd choice. Definitely not my first choice for a language used to teach programming to beginners, nor to run on embedded systems. ps: I'm well aware there are embedded systems for Javascript and it is being taught on codecademy to beginners, I'm just saying it seems weird to me.
  - egypturnash 13y ago
    The pros: It's RIGHT THERE. It's in your browser, complete with console and debugger. You don't need to download a compiler or interpreter or anything to play with it. You don't have to visit any particular site. All you need is Notepad or TextEdit. It's about as close as you're going to come to this nowadays: **** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 **** 64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE READY. ◼︎ BASIC sucked in a lot of ways, but it was right there, inviting you to play around.
    - guptaneil 13y ago
      This. When I was in middle school, I (along with many of my friends) used to program games in TI-Basic on our TI-83 calculators because it was right there and we always had our calculators at school. There were definitely better/simpler languages available, but nothing beats convenience and a low barrier to entry.
    - pekk 13y ago
      C64 BASIC was all there was for many people, otherwise computers were mostly not affordable and available to children. There just wasn't real choice, so we used what we had. If structured BASIC or better had been shipped that would have been the thing to use instead, without a doubt. Today there's a choice. We can't pretend we are forced. Now there are many MUCH better things. And if we intentionally choose hardware which enforces the use of something bad to start with, when we could put all kinds of things on all kinds of hardware today - it isn't because we were forced but because we are stupid. People with experience use Javascript because they have to in order to program the browser (due to a completely artificial monopoly) and they have the ability to adapt to it. Maybe they even develop stockholm syndrome and forget all the ways it's broken and missing basic capabilities. But that doesn't mean it's a good choice among starting languages when we have a free choice.
    - danellis 13y ago
      What's the problem to going to a particular site? There are loads of languages you can learn interactively online. Even if you were just learning JavaScript, you'd still have to visit specific sites for information.
- maxerickson 13y ago
  How close does the supposed $25 Firefox OS phone come to that? (supposed because, hey, they aren't actually shipping for $25 yet)
- fit2rule 13y ago
  I've been trying to find a way to do it with LuaJIT. Putting something like LOAD81 (http://github.com/antirez/load81 http://github.com/antirez/load81) on a business card would be awesome ..
reportingsjr 13y ago
Why not just switch to KiCAD rather than use eagle? I have found KiCAD is far superior at this point and is open source. They mostly have the ability to use eagle libraries in KiCAD now (although it is in alpha I think). Maybe they could donate the $820 to support KiCAD?
- patrickyeon 13y ago
  EAGLE is the tool they know. All their files are already in EAGLE's format, and even if KiCAD can "mostly" do import, that's not quite a matter of being able to pick up your design and keep on going. In the electronics world, tool lock-in is a very real, strong, and painful force.
  - reportingsjr 13y ago
    I don't have pity for people who choose to lock themselves in to tools and then ask for $800 because of it. Oh well, their choice! It really isn't much work to switch to KiCAD.

61 points by yammesicka 13y ago

Nice!

ddod 13y ago

I think there's a great opportunity for someone to release a simple, programmable Gameboy-esque device that runs Javascript or something similarly noob-friendly to give people (and kids) a less friction-filled path to learning programming. This might not be the device for that, but it's a really cool project nevertheless.

buro9 13y ago
It could definitely use http://www.espruino.com/About http://www.espruino.com/About as a starting point. "Espruino is a small computer that anyone can use to control things around them. Its JavaScript interpreter gives you instant feedback so that you can experiment and develop whatever your level of experience."
sdegutis 13y ago
With all of JavaScript's odd quirks, I have a hard time believing that it's noob- or kid-friendly.
- bsder 13y ago
  Do you remember the quirks in BASIC? Good grief. In fact, Javascript comes out best exactly because it tries to do something sane rather than just fail.
Morgawr 13y ago
Javascript... what an odd choice. Definitely not my first choice for a language used to teach programming to beginners, nor to run on embedded systems. ps: I'm well aware there are embedded systems for Javascript and it is being taught on codecademy to beginners, I'm just saying it seems weird to me.
- egypturnash 13y ago
  The pros: It's RIGHT THERE. It's in your browser, complete with console and debugger. You don't need to download a compiler or interpreter or anything to play with it. You don't have to visit any particular site. All you need is Notepad or TextEdit. It's about as close as you're going to come to this nowadays: **** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 **** 64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE READY. ◼︎ BASIC sucked in a lot of ways, but it was right there, inviting you to play around.
  - guptaneil 13y ago
    This. When I was in middle school, I (along with many of my friends) used to program games in TI-Basic on our TI-83 calculators because it was right there and we always had our calculators at school. There were definitely better/simpler languages available, but nothing beats convenience and a low barrier to entry.
  - pekk 13y ago
    C64 BASIC was all there was for many people, otherwise computers were mostly not affordable and available to children. There just wasn't real choice, so we used what we had. If structured BASIC or better had been shipped that would have been the thing to use instead, without a doubt. Today there's a choice. We can't pretend we are forced. Now there are many MUCH better things. And if we intentionally choose hardware which enforces the use of something bad to start with, when we could put all kinds of things on all kinds of hardware today - it isn't because we were forced but because we are stupid. People with experience use Javascript because they have to in order to program the browser (due to a completely artificial monopoly) and they have the ability to adapt to it. Maybe they even develop stockholm syndrome and forget all the ways it's broken and missing basic capabilities. But that doesn't mean it's a good choice among starting languages when we have a free choice.
  - danellis 13y ago
    What's the problem to going to a particular site? There are loads of languages you can learn interactively online. Even if you were just learning JavaScript, you'd still have to visit specific sites for information.
maxerickson 13y ago
How close does the supposed $25 Firefox OS phone come to that? (supposed because, hey, they aren't actually shipping for $25 yet)
fit2rule 13y ago
I've been trying to find a way to do it with LuaJIT. Putting something like LOAD81 (http://github.com/antirez/load81 http://github.com/antirez/load81) on a business card would be awesome ..

reportingsjr 13y ago

Why not just switch to KiCAD rather than use eagle? I have found KiCAD is far superior at this point and is open source. They mostly have the ability to use eagle libraries in KiCAD now (although it is in alpha I think). Maybe they could donate the $820 to support KiCAD?

patrickyeon 13y ago
EAGLE is the tool they know. All their files are already in EAGLE's format, and even if KiCAD can "mostly" do import, that's not quite a matter of being able to pick up your design and keep on going. In the electronics world, tool lock-in is a very real, strong, and painful force.
- reportingsjr 13y ago
  I don't have pity for people who choose to lock themselves in to tools and then ask for $800 because of it. Oh well, their choice! It really isn't much work to switch to KiCAD.