6 Tips for Writing Code
By Gareth Branwyn. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.

In a highly recommended YouTube video and Instructable, entitled ‘Arduino Sample Code Mashups’, Becky Stern simply and beautifully breaks down how to think through the design of a hardware project and the software that you will need to create to run it.
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While the video is geared to Arduino, almost everything is applicable to any microcontroller programming language. Here are the basic considerations that she outlines:
- Define your purpose – Write down the goals of your project, and what features are required and which ones are optional.
- Classify inputs and outputs – List out all of the inputs and outputs you plan on using.
- Write pseudocode – Explain in plain English the steps the program will walk through as it's executed.
- Test your hardware – Test out each subsystem of your design by using sample code known to work with each input and output component.
- Create your program – Paste in all of your now-verified code samples, and start building your program from there.
- Make incremental improvements – Once you get everything working, you can then fix or change any issues you encounter or changes you care to make.

Gareth has been a lifelong practitioner (and chronicler) of DIY tech, media, and culture. He is the author of ten books, including Tips and Tales from the Workshop, and is a former editor for Boing Boing and Wired
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