Changing the Arduino IDE Indentions

Despite what the students in my Introductory Programming class seem to think, good coding style is actually really important. Not only does it make it easier for others to work on and debug your code, but it also makes it easier for you to work on it. For me, the most important thing is indention. Proper indention lets you line up brackets and easily see what loop or if statement you’re working in. This gets even more important when the brackets span more than a single page. Continue reading “Changing the Arduino IDE Indentions” →

Programming the ATtiny with an Arduino

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m starting to look at projects that for various reasons don’t require a full arduino. There are some projects that even the Arduino Pro Mini is too large for. For this, I’m looking at using an ATtiny85 since I only need a few pins. But first, we have to figure out how to program it. There are several ways to program a stand alone IC and future posts will show these, but this post will focus on how to program using an Arduino. There are already numerous tutorials of this online, but many of them are either incomplete or wrong. Others just don’t answer some of the questions I had when I started and this is what I hope to fix with my version. Continue reading “Programming the ATtiny with an Arduino” →

Miles and Points – Basic Tips

Over the past year, many of my friends have started asking me about the miles and points “game”. Figuring out how to describe it is difficult but game is probably the most appropriate term because to me, that’s what it is. Trying to game the travel system and get something from nothing. I love to travel and see new places but probably couldn’t afford to travel near as much as I do if I didn’t use points or miles. I’m going to start by detailing the two types of travelers I see most often and then offer some basic tips Continue reading “Miles and Points – Basic Tips” →

Comparison of ATmel chips

I’ve got a few projects I’m ~~working on~~ thinking about that just don’t make sense with an arduino, both for size and cost reasons. This post was originally going to be about how to program and ATtiny with the arduino IDE (don’t worry, I’ll get to this soon). As I was writing it, I started comparing chips and realized the distinctions weren’t as cut and dry as I thought. So instead, this post will be a comparison of some of the popular Atmel chips: the ATmega328 used in the Arduino Uno, the ATmega2560 used in the Arduino Mega, the ATtiny84, ATtiny85, and ATtiny2313. Continue reading “Comparison of ATmel chips” →

First Post

Woo! First post! I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to posting on here, but I made this blog for two reasons: 1) to reserve the mwwalk name since that’s the name I use for everything and I may want it in the future. 2) to occasionally blog about the projects I’m working on. It’s a way for me to document what I’ve done without having to worry about backing it up while also sharing it with others. No promises on the frequency of updates but here’s hoping. I’ll leave you with this quote by my favorite webcomic XKCD:

“The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind. The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I’m sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handful of paths laid out before us. We see the same things every day, we respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of societal norms. We act like if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us And no, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: the solution doesn’t involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of some day easing my fit into a mold. It doesn’t involve tempering my life to better fit someone’s expectations. It doesn’t involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up. This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can: FUCK. THAT. SHIT.” – http://xkcd.com/137/