Different Methods of Programming for Mechanical Engineering Students: A Case Study

Abstract

The paper is to present a case study where different methods of programming are utilized by Mechanical Engineering Students to design a device. The objective is to provoke discussion and explore best practices on teaching Mechanical Engineering students the programming aspects. The task is to design a low-cost device that can accurately measure the period of a simple pendulum. Same raw materials, infrared break beam sensor and Arduino microcontroller, are given. But different programming approaches can be undertaken. Option 1 is to use C language and Arduino’s free Integrated Development Environment. Option 2 is to use Simulink with Arduino Support. Student survey is designed based on whether it is intuitive, whether it is easier to debug, etc. Further studies can be conducted to understand the effectiveness of a mixture of these different methods and sequence of exposure to these different methods.