A few days ago, a student asked me about the learning path for embedded systems. He is a junior student, and after looking at his resume, I found he had almost no project experience. For companies, such students are like a blank slate. Naturally, it is hard for such students to secure a good offer.
Regarding the learning path, everyone can refer to this article “Skill Checklist and Upgrade Roadmap to Becoming an Embedded Expert.” In fact, no matter who you are, if you want to work in embedded systems, I believe you should start with 51. I saw this article today and had a new idea: if you want to engage in application development, you can try a mature development board like Arduino, as it has better encapsulation and stability, requiring you to care less about many details of the underlying hardware.
However, if you want to engage in embedded software, I still recommend starting with 51, STM32, RTOS, and Linux. In the later stages, you can choose either RTOS or Linux, as it is quite challenging to understand both multitasking systems well.
When learning, you should also study common peripherals and buses, as bus timing is the foundation of embedded systems.
Comparing the performance of Arduino and STM32, who is more powerful?
Many electronics enthusiasts face a dilemma when choosing between Arduino and STM32, not knowing which to use.
Arduino has always been in a hot state, but STM32 has more interfaces and stronger performance, with higher speed… Now, let’s discuss the characteristics of Arduino and STM32.
Arduino leans more towards creativity, downplaying specific hardware operations. Its functions and syntax are very simple and quite “foolproof.”
The main controller of most Arduino boards is the AVR microcontroller. The advantage of Arduino is its high code encapsulation, requiring fewer statements, which reduces the difficulty of software development.
Arduino is relatively easy to get started with; as long as you know a little hardware and C++, you can develop.
Most functions on Arduino have well-prepared libraries, making it very simple to use, but it has poor controllability for slightly more complex functions.
For applications requiring computation or control, STM32 is the better choice. If you buy an STM32 development board, you need to start learning from the hardware level and grasp its various details.
STM32 focuses more on practical engineering. In fact, many simple instruments in factories, like temperature controllers, ordinary motor controllers, low-end PLCs, and some consumer toys, game controllers, wired keyboards, and mice, as well as POS machines used in campus canteens, are widely used.
STM32 is mainly used for products made by professional developers, requiring certain professional knowledge, but writing code to achieve functionality is relatively complex.
For example, outputting a simple string via serial communication might take 10 lines of code in Arduino from creating a new project, but using STM32 development tools like Keil could require hundreds of lines of code or more.
Comparison of Arduino and STM32:
Arduino has many versions, and its features are not consistent. If we take Arduino UNO R3, which is the most common, its controller is the AVR 138 microcontroller, and its performance is not on the same level as STM32; it is somewhat similar to the STC12 series from Macrochip (only in terms of computation).
Arduino MEGA 2560 is the king among MCU versions of Arduino, with rich interfaces, comparable to the STM32F1 series, but it has high power consumption and noticeable heat, while the same package STM32F1ZET6 has only slight warmth, and in low ambient temperatures, it might even feel cool.
Based on the different characteristics of the two, we can compare them according to different applications:
First, in terms of ease of learning, Arduino is significantly easier than STM32.
Secondly, the basic programming concepts required by the two are also different. Arduino primarily uses object-oriented C++, resembling Java, but its language is based on C yet is somewhat unorthodox; while STM32 primarily uses standard C language for development.
Moreover, in terms of knowledge gained after learning, Arduino is also inferior to STM32.Because Arduino encapsulates many low-level operations. Unless you try to write Arduino and its corresponding circuit module libraries yourself, you will only remain at the basic programming level.
Things made with STM32 can be open-sourced if you want; if you don’t want to, you can keep everything private.
First, in terms of the difficulty of building peripheral circuits, Arduino is much easier than STM32.
Secondly, in terms of expandability, Arduino and STM32 are comparable; Arduino basically has most of the controller’s pins printed out.
Finally, regarding cost, if you create something with the same functionality, the cost of Arduino is often higher than that of STM32.
To summarize, if you still don’t know how to choose, here are some suggestions:
1. If you are an ordinary student below university level with limited understanding of programming languages, I recommend starting with Arduino;
2. If your C foundation is weak, jumping straight into STM32 will likely lead to quick frustration;
3. If you are learning solely for employment, definitely go for STM32 microcontrollers;
4. If you are learning just for fun and are not from an electronics background, I suggest Arduino;
5. If you have a good programming foundation, I recommend STM32. Once you master it, you can easily handle projects made with Arduino.
Of course, if you have the capability, you can explore both. Generally, within a week, you can grasp the basic features of Arduino, and later, if needed, you can easily port Arduino code to STM32 and other MCU platforms.
In fact, these two target slightly different directions; Arduino is generally the choice for electronics enthusiasts and DIYers, while STM32 is often used for the development and manufacturing of actual products.
However, now the Arduino series also supports STM32 chips. By first downloading the Arduino firmware, you can then use the Arduino development environment for programming. Choosing what suits your project type and needs is the most important.
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