New Arduino IDE 2.0
Posted: 20 Sep 2022, 18:14
It's about time!
The new 2.0 version of the IDE has been released. Very familiar to users of the old 1.x IDE (which is currently on 1.8.19) but has better colour syntax highlighting, with different coloured themes selectable. From the File menu, choose preferences, and try the different Theme drop-downs. It has auto-completion, so when you type the name of a class (like Serial, or Wire) it prompts you with all the class members that are available for that class. It also allows you to more quickly track down where a macro or library function you're using is actually declared and defined. If you hover your mouse over a function name, it will display information about what parameters the function accepts, and the type and meaning of any value it returns.
I'm glad they've kept it pretty simple - it must have been tempting for them to load it up with all the top-heavy functions you get in some other IDEs: these are great for experts with powerful workstations, but take too long to load on more humble hardware, and tend to frighten away beginners with their forests of choices. In any case, there are already powerful alternatives to the Arduino IDE that many experts are already using - the attraction of the Arduino IDE was always its relative simplicity that made it more suitable for beginners.
No need to uninstall your old IDE to try it out - you can even run the old and new IDE's at the same time, should you wish!
The new 2.0 version of the IDE has been released. Very familiar to users of the old 1.x IDE (which is currently on 1.8.19) but has better colour syntax highlighting, with different coloured themes selectable. From the File menu, choose preferences, and try the different Theme drop-downs. It has auto-completion, so when you type the name of a class (like Serial, or Wire) it prompts you with all the class members that are available for that class. It also allows you to more quickly track down where a macro or library function you're using is actually declared and defined. If you hover your mouse over a function name, it will display information about what parameters the function accepts, and the type and meaning of any value it returns.
I'm glad they've kept it pretty simple - it must have been tempting for them to load it up with all the top-heavy functions you get in some other IDEs: these are great for experts with powerful workstations, but take too long to load on more humble hardware, and tend to frighten away beginners with their forests of choices. In any case, there are already powerful alternatives to the Arduino IDE that many experts are already using - the attraction of the Arduino IDE was always its relative simplicity that made it more suitable for beginners.
No need to uninstall your old IDE to try it out - you can even run the old and new IDE's at the same time, should you wish!