Arduino was revolutionary, it really threw open the doors to makers. When I started using uComps, it was Intel 8080 then 8051; machine code with stacks you had to pop. Next came those damnable Harvard Architecture PIC chips. If you’ll notice, Microchip has aligned a lot of their hardware to conform to Arduino standards, which aren’t hard core or enforced; the Market just drives them.
A couple of great resources are arduino.cc and adafruit.com Once you get bootstrapped in this tech; the devices, examples, and libraries are astounding. Example: you can buy a 6-axis accelerometer for <$5 or a GPS device <$15, plug it into a $5 uComp, load up the example code, and replace a device which used to cost $hundreds. The drones you see everywhere base their motor controllers and navigation systems on a lot of shareware that was developed in the public space, much of it was on Arduino.
A lot of makers will never need the performance of a TI Beagle bone, or a g-FLOP Real Time Operating System. But, if they do, the really cool aspect of Arduino is the scaling throughout the ArduinoSphere. The Internet of Things is now something almost anyone can make, and then run from their cell phone or laptop.
