Get your Arduino running

1. Install the arduino IDE (Integrated development environment).

   An IDE is essentially an application that you write and compile and deploy code in. Arduino has its own which you will need to download from here:

   Aruindo IDE →

   (There is a browser based coding enviroment as well, but that is not recommended for this class)

2. After installing, you can connect your Arduino to your computer using the USB cable.

   

   Double check that the correct port (a usb port) is connected to the board. On Apple systems, it will look like dev/usbmodem###/ and on Windows it will be COM1 or similar.

   

3. Try an example sketch called Blink

   

4. Upload that sketch to the board.

   

   After a second or two, you should one of the little yellow LED lights blinking on and off every second.

   

5. Play around

   With the blink sketch, you can adjust the speed of the blinking by altering the delay values:

   
       void loop() {
         digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
         delay(1000);                       // wait for a second
         digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
         delay(1000);                       // wait for a second
       }