5.4 IDE (MPLAB® X, Atmel Studio, IAR) – Getting Started
To program AVR microcontrollers, either the MPLAB X, Atmel Studio, or IAR Embedded Workbench IDEs can be used.
MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is an expandable and highly configurable software program. It incorporates powerful tools to help the user discover, configure, develop, debug and qualify embedded designs for most of Microchip’s microcontrollers and digital signal controllers. MPLAB X IDE offers support for AVR MCUs.
All the information needed to be familiar with Atmel Studio, including hands-on and video tutorials, is provided in this user’s guide: Getting Started with Atmel Studio 7. Additionally, information on all the project configurations needed to develop a project (fuse programming, oscillator calibration, interface setting, etc) can be found in the Atmel Studio 7 user’s guide. To find and develop more examples for any board, configure drivers, find example projects, and easily configure system clock settings, the online code configuration tool Atmel START can be used. For more details, refer to the Atmel START User Guide.
The IAR Embedded Workbench for AVR with all the features is described in the AN3419 - Getting Started with IAR Embedded Workbench for AVR application note.
The microcontroller families tinyAVR® 0/1-series, megaAVR 0-series, and AVR DA have also a series of Getting Started with dedicated guides available online, with information on how to create a project and what starter kit to use. Examples of these guides are listed below: