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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Arduino Platform and C Programming by University of California, Irvine

4.7
stars
7,112 ratings

About the Course

The Arduino is an open-source computer hardware/software platform for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world around them. In this class you will learn how the Arduino platform works in terms of the physical board and libraries and the IDE (integrated development environment). You will also learn about shields, which are smaller boards that plug into the main Arduino board to perform other functions such as sensing light, heat, GPS tracking, or providing a user interface display. The course will also cover programming the Arduino using C code and accessing the pins on the board via the software to control external devices. Please note that this course does not include discussion forums. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Outline the composition of the Arduino development board 2. Describe what it means to program the board's firmware 3. Read board schematics 4. Install Arduino IDE 5. Describe what "shields" are and how they are used 6. Specify the role of libraries in the use of shields 7. Compile and run a program 8. Name C Variables and Types 9. Name common C operators 10. Use conditionals and loops 11. Explain functions, their definition and invocation 12. Explain the implications of global variables 13. Undertake the Arduino build process 14. Describe the role of the tools behind the IDE 15. Describe how to invoke functions in classes 16. Explain the structure of an Arduino sketch 17. Access the pins of the Arduino 18. Differentiate between digital and analog pin 19. Debug embedded software 20. Explain the importance of controllability and observability in the debugging process 21. Describe common debugging architectures for embedded systems 22. Explain how the UART Serial communication protocol works 23. Describe how the Arduino Serial library performs serial communication...

Top reviews

MR

Aug 8, 2016

A very good course to teach you the basics of Arduino platform and IDE. It'll help you get started on how to code your programs and lets you build up on it. I'd definitely recommend for a beginner.

MK

Aug 6, 2017

very good course to have basic understanding of C programming software , Arduino software which is explained in a very simple language where i was finding difficult before attending this course

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1176 - 1200 of 1,597 Reviews for The Arduino Platform and C Programming

By Martinn H

•

Dec 2, 2015

E

By Yukihiro F

•

Aug 26, 2024

I'd like to point out an important issue. The question is whether purchasing Arduino hardware is mandatory to complete the course. To get straight to the point, unless you engage in some kind of dishonest behavior, it is impossible to complete this course without purchasing Arduino hardware. The course materials mention that you can learn using an online Arduino simulator without the hardware, but in Module 1, there is a peer-reviewed assignment that requires you to submit a screenshot showing the completion of compilation and uploading in the Arduino IDE, which cannot be done with a simulator. I purchased an Arduino starter kit, so I had no problem completing the assignment, but the task itself is entirely pointless. The instructor, as with the Go language course, overuses peer-reviewed assignments for trivial matters. I'm now concerned whether the purchase of hardware will also be mandatory in the upcoming Raspberry Pi course. The Raspberry Pi is significantly more expensive than Arduino. While I am satisfied with purchasing the Arduino, I have doubts about whether the content of this specialization justifies the cost of purchasing a Raspberry Pi.

By Neville C

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Apr 20, 2019

This course is easy to some extend. At the end you have an assignment that will ask you to do something that you are not explained directly how to do it. If you did not do some experiment on your own, then it may me a bit hard.

The course is one way. You watch videos, do readings and do the tests. There is no way to make questions, and there is no forum. So you can't not learn from other people experiences. This may be good for some people. But I rather expend more time reading comments on forum and learn more.

The course is useful if you have some minimal background and you want to make sure you cover from A-Z.

By Andre P

•

Nov 3, 2016

It was a good course, I wished more courses about Arduino and examples of what we can do with the platform in real life applications. Arduino seems more accessible that raspberry pi, in terms of price (I believe I cannot complete the course about this particular platform), the software (myself I have trouble with Linux, perhaps due to my low level of knowledge), in Arduino I used mostly the 123d simulator, which helped me a lot. I am grateful to Prof. Harris, the Coursera team and the California University.

By Alec K

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Nov 12, 2015

I found this to be very useful in getting started with both C and the Arduino - neither of which I've studied/used before. I felt the lectures were well delivered and the videos of the Arduino board and circuit helped me to connect components correctly. I suspect some of the problems I experienced in submitting my projects might be resolved through some more detailed advice within the course notes. I'm looking forward very much to the companion course involving interfacing with the Arduino.

By Galia

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May 18, 2018

I liked the course however It will be a tad difficult for someone with absolutely no programming background so the professor just digs into it so unless you study a lot on your own (and not following the few 2-3 hrs a week prestated) you will have some trouble getting there.

The only bad thing is that you have to copy paste your code. This makes the whole code alignment to jump and a lot of students didn't re-align in the preview screen hence their code gets some errors.

By Dale R A

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Jan 12, 2018

This was a good introduction; and now I am moved on to taking courses 1 and 3 this month :) and getting good value from the time spent. Learning a lot thank you Mr. Harris! I appreciate the laid back, practical kind of style, although once in awhile you stumble on something and I'm like "Did he really not re-record that?". But, it is more than made up for by the positive aspects that you covered so much useful data and made it available to us. Thanks again.

By Amit K C

•

Nov 12, 2018

The course is best for those who are new to Arduino and will motivate them to learn more about the subject. There are lots of sensors with which the students can play with and then report their experience. There are many other advanced subjects in this course that can be added like making of our own library for a sensors etc. Overall its a good lecture and it was easily understood.

By Ritwik C

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May 10, 2020

The course was a great introduction to the arduino ecosystem and professor Harris explained all the basic concepts related to it very well. However, this is only an introduction to the arduino platform mainly for beginners. so if you already have basic knowledge of the programming of arduino or any other microcontrollers, this course may not be of much help to you.

By Saul R T

•

Dec 26, 2020

For someone with a little competence in processors and coding probably the course is a little too complex so it would be good to do a more detailed explanations. I'm a telecom engineer so for me it was the right difficulty in the assignments to practice classes but I also needed to do some research on my own, In general the course is great,

By David F

•

Sep 3, 2016

The lecturer and structure were very good. Five Stars.

Sadly, I felt the course could have used a bit more substance. Less than hour of lectures per week and only one programming assignment left me wanting more. By contrast after taking https://www.coursera.org/learn/matlab/home/welcome I realy felt like I had a grasp on the material.

By Binod

•

Aug 20, 2017

Really I enjoyed this course, as it refresh all my old memory for C programming and provide easy way to explain Arduino code. On top one interesting topic was there on micro controller communication. I would like to recommend this course if you are really going to start coding on Arduino. Thanks Sir !!

By parth g

•

Sep 16, 2020

A very good course to teach you the basics of Arduino platform and IDE. It'll help you get started on how to code your programs and lets you build upon it. I'd definitely recommend for a beginner. There is a need to make it more interactive. Like discussion form otherwise, most of us are on our own.

By Akshiv A

•

May 18, 2020

This course is very good. It helps me to understand concepts more clearly. Its peer assignments are good too but they can be better and little bit more hard . However if the amount of peer assignment was more then it would be more better. Thank you Coursera and Professor Ian Harris.

By Prakash K

•

Dec 20, 2018

This course was very elaborate and informative. Prof. Ian G. Harris is a very good teacher and it is very interesting listening his class. I wish the assignments could be a little more challenging and would be better if they are checked by professors along with the peer grading.

By vinay s

•

Nov 24, 2019

This course serves the purpose of an Introduction to Arduino platform (a very basic introduction).

Even though most of the information regarding the Arduino platform is available freely on the website Arduino.cc ; this course provides a more structured approach to the platform.

By Manoj W

•

Apr 3, 2021

The course has provided a lot of new information for me, even though I am not a beginner. Well planned course. But I would like to see more on-hand practical lessons. The final projects are a bit easy. But it has provided new insights to my understanding about Arduino.

By Biplav S K

•

Oct 12, 2020

This is a nice course to start with Arduino and c programming. The instructor has explained almost everything about the Arduino at the very basic level requiring the learner to dig deep and play around for a better understanding of concepts which I think is a good thing.

By Hector J

•

Mar 24, 2019

I liked this course more than the first one, it has a lot of simple information on the input and outputs of an Arduino IDE. The professor gives a lot information on the code behind Arduino and that helped get the big picture of programming with Arduino.

By Vicky S

•

Nov 10, 2018

I liked the course overall. I think some of the topics can be replaced by some practical projects . This course only has one partial working project(LED Blink). This course focus more on theory part than its practical applications.

By Suprajith H

•

Jul 30, 2016

A very good course. It does not teach you everything about C programming but does a very good job of teaching the bare minimum required to understand and implement simple C programs.

The Arduino Platform is very well explained.

By 2K20 E 6 S V

•

Apr 14, 2021

It was an awesome experience doing the course. The Lecturer is really cool. I gave a star less because the courses missed on coding and practical videos. Rest everything is awesome. I learned a lot of new things. Thank you!

By KIRAN K A

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Jan 17, 2016

Had joined for free(non-specialization), it was good. Got a basic overview on ardunio. I had never worked on ardunio, but on AVR microcontroller. If you are looking for basic overview, its really good. Thanks to coursera :)

By Amanda W

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Mar 25, 2020

Very new to coding and a bit more instruction on the syntax of the C language would have been helpful, but with books/internet I was able to do the assignments - they were challenging for a beginner but not impossible.

By Ariel M

•

Feb 22, 2017

Very good introduction to arduino programming and the platform in general. However i expected it to be a more in depth course, however i would recommended it to anyone who just bought an arduino for the first time.