July 27, 2012

codebender - the cloud-based Arduino IDE

Although working with the Arduino involves the simple and easy to use IDE, as more people become used to cloud computing the idea of using an online IDE has become less worrisome and more interesting as a developer. It seems to work for the mbed crowd, so it's nice to see an Arduino example take shape - codebender. Here's a screen shot of it in action:


Getting started was simple, however we needed to update the version of Java being used by Chrome. You can upload directly to the Arduino via USB, or download your code in .ino or .hex files (great if you have Java>USB issues). Currently codebender only supports Arduino Uno (Freetronics Eleven/EtherTen/USBdroid) or Duemilanove-style (Freetronics TwentyTen) boards. 

After some quick testing codebender seems ideal for a cloud-based IDE. The look and feel is comfortable and the text editor formats the code nicely. It could also be useful for sharing code across teams (however you would need to share the one account). Included libraries at this time are EEPROM, Ethernet, Firmata, LiquidCrystal, SD, SPI, Servo, SoftwareSerial, stepper and wire.  Although codebender is still in beta, it's an interesting online IDE and we look forward to further developments. For more information and to pre-register, check out codebender.ccAnd we're ontwitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you are new to Arduino, join in with our range of Arduino-compatible hardwareprototyping shields and module range. A good start is the Freetronics Eleven, the Arduino Uno-compatible board with onboard prototyping space:


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