So this is my optimistic take on 'the youth of today' (full disclosure: I have three sons, the eldest of which just started university): I suspect that society has always had a larger proportion of consumers than creators, I just think that the internet makes it easier for consumers to contact producers directly. I choose not to believe that the percentage of producers is actually decreasing.
I used to mentor my eldest son's robotics team at his high school, including students from the ages of 14 through 18. There were several interesting aspects to this. One was that after the start of the season, the number of pupils attending fell rapidly to a core set who were extremely motivated. Even then it could take three or four years for them to figure out what aspect of building a robot interested them most and for them to also figure out that if they wanted to be a big part of the team, they basically had to just grab some function themselves and run with it. We were there to expose them to the possibilities and provide help and guidance on how they might achieve what they were aiming for. The organization behind these teams is First Robotics. They organize events every year. Each year they specify a different challenge and define the parameters for the build and the challenge. The teams have only six weeks to build, program, test and practice with their robot. There is a minimal set of parts that can be bought and some specific ones that have to be used, but there are no kits and no plans. It provides students with the chance to create and to learn how to create, as well as teaching other real-world skills such as organizing, researching, using tools, programming etc. On Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 6:38:35 PM UTC-5, Paul Andrews wrote: > > It seems that people have very strong opinions about what MCU (is there a > better term?) they like to use in projects. In particular there are some > strong feelings against the Arduino and the use of libraries. So maybe we > can air our opinions in this thread (in a civil manner! No personal attacks > please, and bear in mind that language can be tricky to interpret at times, > especially if English is not a first language - mods, feel free to close > this down if you think it is open to abuse or not appropriate for this > group). > > My own feeling is that libraries are one of the strong suits of a platform > like the arduino - they allow me to focus on what I am trying to achieve, > rather than having to re-invent the wheel (though, obviously, there is > nothing stopping me re-inventing the wheel if I feel the need!). I am a > professional software developer who has written code at all levels - OS > code, libraries, compilers, assemblers, embedded systems, device drivers, > distributed systems, enterprise systems, databases, network protocols, > GUIs, web sites and even applications (though that isn't my strong suit!) > There are probably some areas that I haven't touched. I enjoy it all, but > life is too short to constantly write this stuff, and those who do so full > time generally do a better job of it. > > As far as Arduinos go - they are cheap and easy to program and I use them > a lot for prototyping (actually I use the tiny WeMos D1 mini pros now). I > even have one clock that is an Arduino shield, though you wouldn't know it > - its form factor is not that of your average shield. As a testament to its > flexibility, this allowed me to easily extend both the software and the > hardware to better suit what I wanted. > > And yes, I have moved on to other hardware, but I still use all those > Arduino libraries. > > Surface mounting seems to be another contentious topic. It seems that I > have embraced it whole-heartedly, though I started down that route because > the interesting chips I wanted to use where all surface mount. > Aesthetically I think through-hole components suit Nixie tubes better, and > I like to see the circuitry exposed, though that is also a preference that > I know some others very much disagree with. > > Truth is, I want to use it all! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/07ecd555-1b1b-4efb-bd39-a57bebe6bb78%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
