Software

The STEMTera™ Breadboard by itself is just a piece of physical hardware. You need to tell it what to do by sending a set of instructions to the micro-controller on the board. This set of instructions is normally referred to as program, code or software. There are a few ways to send the program to the STEMTera™ Breadboard, one of the most popular way is by using the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

The Arduino IDE contains a text editor for writing code, a message area, a text console, a toolbar with buttons for common functions and a series of menus. It connects to the STEMTera™ Breadboard hardware to upload programs and communicate with them.

Sketches

Programs written using Arduino IDE are called sketches. These sketches are written in the code editing area of the Arduino IDE and can compiled into a set of micro-controller instructions that can be uploaded into the STEMTera™ Breadboard.

Installing Arduino IDE

In order to start writing sketches for your STEMTera™ Breadboard, you will need to install the latest version of the Arduino IDE first from Arduino’s website. Using an internet-enabled computer, open up your favourite Internet browser and type the following URL into the browser’s address bar:

www.arduino.cc/en/main/software

This URL will display a page with download choices based on various Operating Systems.

Click and download the appropriate Operating System installation package for your computer. As soon as the download is completed, if you are familiar with installing software and drivers, please proceed with the installation, otherwise open up your browser and type the following URL into the browser’s address bar to read SparkFun’s Installing Arduino IDE guide.

learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/installing-arduino-ide

After completing the installation, execute the Arduino IDE on your computer. The user interface of Arduino IDE is divided into 9 sections. Navigate around the user interface to get familiar with the Arduino IDE.