Cookbooks
Arduino
Chapter 5. Good Coding Practices
Organizing code into functions

Arduino:
Organizing code into functions

How to:

Imagine you want to blink an LED. Without functions, your loop is a messy jumble. With functions, it’s neat. Here’s how:

const int LED_PIN = 13;

void setup() {
  pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  blinkLED(500); // Blink the LED every 500ms
}

// Function to blink an LED
void blinkLED(int delayTime) {
  digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);
  delay(delayTime);
  digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(delayTime);
}

Sample output: Your LED is happily blinking away, and the code’s purpose is clear at a glance.

Deep Dive

Before functions, programming was a linear road trip; you saw every pothole from start to end. After functions, it’s more like hopping flights - you skip to the important parts. Historically, subroutines (early functions) were a revolution in programming, letting coders avoid repeating themselves – that’s the DRY principle, Don’t Repeat Yourself. Alternatives to functions might include macros or the use of classes for object-oriented programming (OOP). The nitty-gritty? When you define a function, you’re giving the compiler a blueprint for executing a task. With Arduino, you’re often defining void functions that act as simple commands for a microcontroller, but functions can also return values, making them more versatile.

See Also

For more on functions, browse through these:

LoggingRefactoring