BareMinimum

[last updated: 2022-06-07]
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• BareMinimum is the name of the program that is opened in the Arduino IDE when you start a "New" program.
  When you install the Arduino IDE, the BareMinimum program is put into the folder [on my Linux system ...] :
  .../Home/arduino-[version]/examples/01.Basics/BareMinimum

  It is the framework for every new program you write.

  
  The version that is included with the Arduino IDE is very basic. I have developed some additional functions that greatly assist me in program development, and I have edited the BareMinimum program to include them.
  Here's my most recent version: BareMinimum14

• Functions that I have added to the original BareMinimum:
  • code to blink the onboard LED in a user-defined pattern of blinks at the start and end of setup:
    • This is a convenient troubleshooting tool. When you run your program, at completion of setup, it blinks the onboard LED some number of blinks.
    • When working with either software or hardware issues, and you want to test things after making changes, edit the blink parameters to change the number of long & short blinks, then reload. When setup finishes and the blink routine is executed, see if your new parameters (# of blinks etc.) are in effect, and if so, then your changes and upload worked.
    • I found this useful to test everything from com ports to cables. When I first started working with Arduino, I was often confused and frustrated by intermittent behavior. When you upload a sketch, even if there are no error messages on the IDE, the upload may not have been successful. This program will demonstrate with a new configuration of board LED blinks at completion of setup whether your upload worked.
  • a heartbeat (~ 1/sec), using the onboard LED, to show that the loop is running and not locked up somehow.
  • a preamble printed out to serial monitor during setup, that prints out the name of the program loaded, and also reads eeprom-stored data on the MCU board type, ID, and comments

• I put this program (renamed to just "BareMinimum.ino") into (on my system) ...Basics/bareMinimum folder (as listed above).

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