Holding your first arduino in your hands is an amazing feeling. I know you can’t wait to make your first project with this arduino. But, how will you tell your arduino what to do and how to do?

You need something where you can write what you want your arduino to do and send it to your arduino board. Right?

Let me make things simple for you by introducing you to Arduino IDE which is the software provided by Arduino. Here you can instruct your arduino by writing programs.

This is how Arduino IDE looks!

For writing something on Arduino IDE, you need to download it first. You are advised to download the latest version available on Arduino website.

To download and install arduino on your systems, follow these steps –

1- Type the following link in your browser.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

2- Click on “Windows Installer, for Windows XP and up” for Windows, “Linux 32bits or Linux 64 bits or Linux ARM” for Linux and “Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or newer” for Mac OS.

Windows being the most common, I will focus on how to install Arduino on Windows.

3- Click on JUST DOWNLOAD.

4- Open the downloaded .exe file.

5 – Click Yes for “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?”

6 – Click I Agree

7 – Click Next

8 – Click Install

9 – Arduino IDE is installed and a shortcut will appear on your desktop. You can click Close now.

Arduino Icon on Desktop

Double click the Arduino icon on desktop to open Arduino IDE.