Open-Source Microcontrollers for Science - Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs - page 58

FIGURE 4.3 Screenshot of Arduino software interface.
The Arduino IDE contains
a text editor for writing code (including features for cuting/pasting and for searching/re-
placing text);
a message area (that gives feedback while saving and exporting and also displays errors);
a text console, which displays text output by the Arduino environment including complete
error messages and other information (also the botom right-hand corner of the window
displays the current board and serial port);
a toolbar with butons for common functions;
a series of menus.
The IDE connects to the Arduino hardware (the board) to upload programs and communic-
ate with them.
When you write software programs in the text editor to control your Arduino microcontrol-
ler, they are called sketches and saved with the file extension .ino. 21 The toolbar butons allow
you to do the following in order: verify programs (check for errors), upload (compile and up-
load to your microcontroller) programs, create a new sketch, open of the existing sketches in
your sketchbook, 22 and save sketches, and open the serial monitor, which displays serial data
being sent from the Arduino board (USB or serial board). The icons are fairly self-explanat-