Embedded Programming
Magic.
A number of things happened this week: I redesigned my board, built it, got it to accept a program, broke it, remade it, fumbled around in Arduino, and finally - well, a mixed success.
The break was a real heartbreaker. I had gotten it working Monday night, all pretty lights and usable. Victoria ran me through the basic test to see if the thing could be programmed, and I was feeling pretty good about it. But when I went in Tuesday to try to load my Arduino code - oh, my hopes for an early evening.
But Neil said last week - and I didn't believe him - that the more you make the boards, the more you solder, the faster it goes. And surprisingly, I was able to remake and solder a new board in less than an hour. So I didn't lose too much time - but it sure came back to bite me later.
Even though C might be objectively better, Arduino makes it really easy to build a program. I'm OK with starting with training wheels, because I know zero about programming. Less than zero, honestly - it felt like a block on my brain every time I tried to sit down and figure it out.
Seeing my classmates in the lab, though, and listening to their successes and even seeing how they were developing their programs really made me feel better, though - just because it seemed more manageable, you know? Less impossible.
By the time I got my code loaded and working, I couldn't stop hearing, echoing in my brain, the phrase "Ye'r a wizard, Harry!"
And then this bull, and I felt more like Neville.