Today at the Samsung Developers Conference, Codenvy announced the first public release of the Samsung Artik IDE which allows building applications for Samsung Artik IoT devices. Based on the popular Eclipse Che browser based IDE which has already had more than 100,000 downloads since its release at EclipseCon in March earlier this year, the browser-based Artik IDE allows developers to write applications in multiple languages and manage the application on the device.
The IDE can be used to write code in different languages, including Java, JavaScript, and Python. Interestingly for a browser-based IDE, it's also possible to write code in C and C++ as well. Not only that, but the IDE provides device discovery and management; so applications can be built and then debugged on the target device. Each of the Artik devices has a full networking stack, which means that network connected computers and IDEs can talk to the devices through an SSH connection or over directly connected USB. The devices also have support for MQTT and COAP, two Internet of Things standard protocols for device communication, and the device can be configured to talk back up to the Artik Cloud for uploading data or telemetry from connected sensors or application state. The Artik Cloud, a service that is managed by Samsung, can also have triggers called Rules that kick off a set of processing when incoming data is sent over light weight protocols such as MQTT. This allows the change in a data value - the temperature dropping to close to zero, for example - can initiate a server-side appropriate action, such as turning the heating on. Importantly for IoT security, all of these protocols can be encrypted and use authenticated credentials in order to connect, with the Artik Cloud providing the necessary encryption and connectivity.
Because Artik IDE is based on Eclipse Che, other plug-ins and utilities designed to work in the cloud based IDE can also run in Artik as well. And since the IDE is hosted in a browser shell, it is platform independent and can be run or edited from any device with a web browser.
Tyler Jewell, Eclipse Che project lead and Codenvy CEO, had this to say about the new IDE:
Samsung Artik has opened its doors to the large community built around Eclipse IDEs, bringing more users to its growing set of developer tools. Anyone is now empowered to bring IoT to life with the Samsung Artik IDE. This new IDE, and the support of Samsung and the Eclipse Foundation, opens a new world for developers building products and services that make IoT’s potential a reality.
The Artik devices come in a number of different configurations with different processing support, which range from a simple device sensor with a three-axis gyrometer to a 2GHz computing module. The Artik 1 is the smallest device at 12x12mm wide with WVGA support, Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 and a dual-core 250Mhz processor with 1Mb of memory and 4Mb of flash storage, although due to its diminutive size it only supports C/C++ programs. The Artik 5 has a 1GHz dual-core A7 Cortex computing with Zigbee and Bluetooth/Bluetooth LE and 512Mb of memory and 4Gb of flash storage. The largest Artik 10 with HDMI and quad A7 and quad A15 cortex cores at 1.3GHz and 1.5GHz octo-core with 2Gb of memory and 16Gb of on-board storage. These devices can also be used to connect to a screen and run the Artik IDE from a browser on that device, or even run the backend services on the device as well.
Information about the Samsung Artik IDE can be found at the Eclipse Che project at Eclipse, and is available to download as a beta today.