One of the nice things about the Micro:bit, is that it supports different languages:
- Flashing it with the Espruino firmware, lets you program it with javascript, with the added bonus of the excellent Espruino WebIDE.
- MicroPython, a python implementation for microcontrollers, is also supported.
- Last but not least, you can use the Arduino IDE and it's C-like language to program the Micro:bit.
Here is a nice guide from Adafruit on how to set this all up.
MicroBench is a simple little benchmark implemented in these 3 languages, to see how each one behaves on this neat little board.
First run finds the first 250 prime numbers lighting up a led every 10 primes, second run calculates first 250 digits of Pi, visualizing them coded as 9 levels of brightness (0 led is off, 9 led is full on). Finally the elapsed time scrolls on the "display".
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