Ardestan

Abstract

This paper describes Ardestan, a visual programming language (VPL) for Arduino currently under development. The language is designed with art and design students in mind as novice programmers. Although multitasking and event scheduling are essential for interactive prototypes, novices often face difficulty in implementing these features. By borrowing the language design from Pure Data, a VPL for interactive music, Ardestan facilitates the implementation of multitasking and event scheduling, while generating C++ code for a standalone Arduino system. Such features would be beneficial to support prototyping activity by art and design students in undergraduate interaction design courses.