Review of the book “Programming the Arduino / Freeduino microcontroller cards”
The other day I became the owner of the book “Programming Microcontroller Boards Arduino / Freeduino” recently published in Russian. As one of the first buyers, I hasten to tell the community what I saw in it.
Image from ozon.ru
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Original title: Arduino: Mikrocontroller-Programmiering mit Arduino / Freeduino, 978-3-6456-5064-9, 2010
Posted by: Ulli Sommer
Translator: Victor Bukirev
Publisher: BHV-Petersburg
ISBN 978-5-9775-0727-1; 2012 (?!)
Potential buyers should first look at the content in pdf .
The first half of the book is devoted to the basics of working with Arduino. Separately, I will focus on the following chapters:
Chapter 3. An overview of the Arduino family. Alas, it is already outdated for two years. Given in the book Duemilanove and Mega are no longer available. The new Uno is not mentioned, because at the time of this writing, he had not yet come out.
Chapter 4. Popular expansion cards. Described 6 boards, unfortunately, very briefly and boring. Moreover, there are much more interesting boards. Further in the sketches, these boards are still not used.
Chapter 6. Electronic components and their properties. Very superficial and brief. It is impossible to study why this or that element is needed for this chapter.
Chapter 9. Basics of programming. Here the explanations are quite sensible and detailed. Although, of course, not all features of the language are described, it will be just right for beginners.
The second half of the book contains ready-made examples of work. Separate chapters highlighted work with I 2 C, GPS, servo and LCD.
Do not be fooled by the inscription on the cover of “More than 80 practical projects”. There are 30 of them in the book. The number 80 probably means the number of listings.
Most of the examples I would call fairly dull, too simple and divorced from life. For example, “10.12 Real Time Clock” actually just uses the internal Arduino timer. And “Street lighting automatic”, depending on the illumination, lights or extinguishes the LED on pin 13. I don’t know what to do with this :) The interface with the computer is also described very poorly.
Work with the LCD is more or less normal. But sectche with GPS does not even explain what this program does.
Separately, I want to note the "uneven" pace of presentation. Some things are painted in detail, some in passing, sometimes the program code is simply given - figure it out yourself.
The big drawback of the book (for me) is that the inscriptions were not translated from German in the screenshots and some of the schemes. Only a few comments were translated in the code, and all variables and output messages remained in the original language.
I do not see anything terrible when the book is a translation from English, which all programmers know. But the names of the variables in German are very difficult to digest when you know only “hend hoh” and “their computers or computer programs” in German :)
Why did the publisher take the German book at all when it was already published in English?
Advantages of the book:
Thus, I would advise such a book to newcomers - those who are just going to or have recently started working with Arduino. ( buy on Ozone )
If you feel confident with the Arduino and you are looking for a book with ready-made sketches, then I would recommend Arduino Cookbook M. Margolis - O'Reilly Media (2011) - 662 pages - ISBN 0596802471 . It can be found in PDF on the Internet. I personally bought it at Amazon (they took it to Moscow in three days!) And am happy, like an elephant.
Image from ozon.ru
')
Output
Original title: Arduino: Mikrocontroller-Programmiering mit Arduino / Freeduino, 978-3-6456-5064-9, 2010
Posted by: Ulli Sommer
Translator: Victor Bukirev
Publisher: BHV-Petersburg
ISBN 978-5-9775-0727-1; 2012 (?!)
Content
Potential buyers should first look at the content in pdf .
The first half of the book is devoted to the basics of working with Arduino. Separately, I will focus on the following chapters:
Chapter 3. An overview of the Arduino family. Alas, it is already outdated for two years. Given in the book Duemilanove and Mega are no longer available. The new Uno is not mentioned, because at the time of this writing, he had not yet come out.
Chapter 4. Popular expansion cards. Described 6 boards, unfortunately, very briefly and boring. Moreover, there are much more interesting boards. Further in the sketches, these boards are still not used.
Chapter 6. Electronic components and their properties. Very superficial and brief. It is impossible to study why this or that element is needed for this chapter.
Chapter 9. Basics of programming. Here the explanations are quite sensible and detailed. Although, of course, not all features of the language are described, it will be just right for beginners.
The second half of the book contains ready-made examples of work. Separate chapters highlighted work with I 2 C, GPS, servo and LCD.
Do not be fooled by the inscription on the cover of “More than 80 practical projects”. There are 30 of them in the book. The number 80 probably means the number of listings.
Most of the examples I would call fairly dull, too simple and divorced from life. For example, “10.12 Real Time Clock” actually just uses the internal Arduino timer. And “Street lighting automatic”, depending on the illumination, lights or extinguishes the LED on pin 13. I don’t know what to do with this :) The interface with the computer is also described very poorly.
Work with the LCD is more or less normal. But sectche with GPS does not even explain what this program does.
Separately, I want to note the "uneven" pace of presentation. Some things are painted in detail, some in passing, sometimes the program code is simply given - figure it out yourself.
Translation difficulties
The big drawback of the book (for me) is that the inscriptions were not translated from German in the screenshots and some of the schemes. Only a few comments were translated in the code, and all variables and output messages remained in the original language.
I do not see anything terrible when the book is a translation from English, which all programmers know. But the names of the variables in German are very difficult to digest when you know only “hend hoh” and “their computers or computer programs” in German :)
Why did the publisher take the German book at all when it was already published in English?
findings
Advantages of the book:
- low price
- designed for beginners
- good introductory programming course
- simple examples are good for beginners
- one of the few sources of information on Arduino in Russian
- examples for experienced arduinschik will be frankly uninteresting
- fundamentals of electronics are not actually given
- not translated from the German program code, as well as part of the schemes and screenshots
- the book is a bit old
- Expansion boards are described superficially, there are no examples with them.
Thus, I would advise such a book to newcomers - those who are just going to or have recently started working with Arduino. ( buy on Ozone )
If you feel confident with the Arduino and you are looking for a book with ready-made sketches, then I would recommend Arduino Cookbook M. Margolis - O'Reilly Media (2011) - 662 pages - ISBN 0596802471 . It can be found in PDF on the Internet. I personally bought it at Amazon (they took it to Moscow in three days!) And am happy, like an elephant.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/133954/
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