[tz] FW: Beginner's help request

Daniel Ford dfnojunk at gmail.com
Thu Nov 9 11:34:39 UTC 2017


Howard,

Thanks for your response to my comments.  And I tip my hat to you for the great effort in developing a library that handles the convoluted TZdb!

I have to mention at the outset that:
1. I'm a raw novice at the whole Arduino scene (and see further comment below);
2. I have zero knowledge and experience of C++.

My background is a professional electronics engineer, having spent the past 30 or so years designing/developing embedded systems, both hardware and firmware.  My firmware experience (self-taught programmer) is mainly with assembler (various devices) and C.  That said, I'm always willing to learn new skills in my retirement (helps stave off dementia, they say! :-)

I hate Arduino!  It's a platform that seems to have been developed by, and is now largely supported by, hobbyists.  Detailed technical documentation is invariably somewhere between atrocious and non-existent.  Anathema to a professional engineer!  So why am I using it?  Where else will you buy a computing platform with an in-built wi-fi module (both client and AP modes, even simultaneously!) for under AUD5 including postage (<US4)?  [There could be similar Raspberry Pi bargains, but they would likely come with similar issues.]

Anyway, I was happy to read (on Stackoverflow): "As of version 1.6.6, the Arduino IDE enables C++11 by default."  So, in-between reading a C++ tutorial, what I guess is my next step is to 'install' your library in the Arduino environment, then find or write a simple program to call on, for example, current_zone(), and see what errors are thrown-up.

I'm very grateful for your offer to assist.  Be prepared for lots of 'dumb' beginner questions!  (I'll communicate with you directly rather than clutter the TZ list with this side-exercise.  But if you eventually come up with an Arduino library version, we should definitely announce it on the TZ discussion list.)

Regards,
Daniel




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