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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/bc23957c-d773-4f44-a956-93cc4ae13601%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.