The Arduino IDE is the application that we use to write our code, test it, and then upload it to the board. It has a bunch of other features such as a debugging area in case something does go wrong, support for many different Arduino boards, additional libraries, and a serial monitor for communicating with the board while it's running. You can download the IDE at www.arduino.cc/en/main/software. Be sure to get the right version for your operating system. Now, there are thousands of different programming languages out there; you might have heard of a couple of them. HTML,.NET, C, C++, and Java are all suited to different types of applications. HTML, for example, is designed for building websites and internet assets, whereas C and C++ can be used for many things but really excel at controlling hardware devices such as microcontrollers.

There is much debate about whether Arduino uses C or C++ as they are both quite similar, especially when you're only using them for basic usage. However, while Arduino libraries are usually.cpp files, the Arduino library is based upon a software abstraction called Wiring. Wiring allows for easy control of hardware ports through simple functions without needing to consult data sheets and get bogged down in pin mapping. The end result is that Arduino uses bits of both C and C++, but the general flow and structure of the code are more heavily based around C.