Moving at a snail's pace....

[IanNoob]

Hello. I'm new to this forum, but not to programming.
My first attempts were with my father's Olivetti desk computer in about 1968 or 9 - trying to get it to talk to a flame photometer, get readings then carry out statistical analysis on the data. All that I can remember was that it was vaguely assembler-like, with registers that you could and couldn't use for different processes. Later I cut my teeth on a BBC B micro and then, during the Chernobyl crisis used BBC Basic (which contains an in-line assembler) to download, process and store data from nuclear instrumentation onto my pride and joy, a massive 10 megabyte hard disk on a CPM Z80 machine. Later I dabbled with the Basic Stamp, Forth and then with Pascal from which I graduated to my first IDE - Topspeed Modula-2 still my favourite.

In this millenium I've not done much programming but after retiring I discovered that there was only so much plumbing, carpentry and gardening that I could cope with and looked for something more challenging.

I decided to try to integrate my Nikon DSLR with a home-made LED flash with some extras such as focus-stacking, water-drops, stroboscopic photos etc. Now, I've outgrown the Arduino Nano that so far can do all the parts that I want but simply doesn't have the memory to hold it all, plus the human interface etc so I started looking for something bigger and better and perhaps a touch faster.

I have to admit that I find C the most impenetrable language that I've ever used, or is that my age showing?

Ian

[mrburnette]

...
In this millenium I've not done much programming but after retiring I discovered that there was only so much plumbing, carpentry and gardening that I could cope with and looked for something more challenging.

I decided to try to integrate my Nikon DSLR with a home-made LED flash with some extras such as focus-stacking, water-drops, stroboscopic photos etc. Now, I've outgrown the Arduino Nano that so far can do all the parts that I want but simply doesn't have the memory to hold it all, plus the human interface etc so I started looking for something bigger and better and perhaps a touch faster.

I have to admit that I find C the most impenetrable language that I've ever used, or is that my age showing?

Ian

Welcome Ian, thank you for completing the New-User section - really helpful.

For your Nikon project you may find some inspiration from a member in the old forum who created a remote camera project:
https://github.com/pingumacpenguin/STM32-Sunrise

As a new member here, please read:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=301
--- and ---
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=673

Both of the above will make your membership and interaction more enjoyable and efficient.

Under the hood (bonnet) Arduino is mostly C++, and most abstractions are object-based; commands are here:
https://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/
There are great advantages to having the underpinnings in C/C++ but for novice users, those benefits generally materialize in user libraries. As you become comfortable with Arduino, you can build up your own C++ libraries for code reuse.

The IDE is written mostly in JAVA with numerous batch scripts setting environmental vars for use by the C++ compiler and linker. In fact, everything in the IDE can be done from the command-line using "make." If you do write libraries, this issue may still be open (do not sweat if you do not understand "prototyping")

I am pleased you have prior ArduinoIDE knowledge and experience with the Nano; most STM32-board work will have direct parallels into the knowledge you currently have, so things like setup(), loop(), and Arduino commands are mostly the same. Please be aware there are many on-silicon enhancements not in the Atmega328P silicon, so some command arguments will be different.

Understand no computer language has an "age" component for ease of use, in my experience, blockages are just a barrier in mindset ... that is, relating what you know to how to use the language and then experimenting with short, simple example code. Failure to get comfortable with example code is guaranteed to create frustration. The Internet is simply full of examples, even I have a few:
https://www.hackster.io/rayburne/projects
but the examples that get installed with the IDE are recommended: File / Examples

Best of luck. As you interact, please provide your board model and core version: Official / Roger's

... and remember both of the above cores have their own WiKi that can be most helpful.

libmaple (Roger's) Wiki: https://stm32duinoforum.com/forum/wiki_ ... e_API.html

libmaple author's page: http://docs.leaflabs.com/docs.leaflabs.com/index.html (old but useful)

Roger's Github notes: https://github.com/stm32duino/wiki/wiki

Official STM32 Corporate Wiki: https://github.com/stm32duino/wiki/wiki

The partially restored old forum that crashed back in 2019: https://stm32duinoforum.com/forum/index_php.html


Ray