What do "Download" and "Upload" mean?

[Andrew Neil]

In the Good Old Days, "Download" always meant sending stuff to the Target (ie, programming), and "Upload" meant getting stuff from the Target (reading).

But the ones at Arduino have messed that up, saying "Upload" for programming the Target.

eg, https://docs.arduino.cc/software/ide-v2/tutorials/getting-started/ide-v2-uploading-a-sketch

:confounded_face: :\

Please clarify what STM32CubeProgrammer means when it says, "Download" and "Upload".

The terms should probably be avoided now.

:\

[Dana Myers]

Based on my experience, "Download" means programming the STM32, and "Upload" means reading it.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Yes, but as Andrew points out Arduino uses it differently, and Upload/Download are frequently used interchangeably. Perhaps also because Upgrade and Update are regularly used as terms too.

If I understand Andrew's request, it is that "Download/Write To Device/Target" and "Upload/Read from Device/Target" be stated more explicitly and in a non-ambiguous manner.

[Andrew Neil]

@Community member​ "If I understand Andrew's request"

Yes, you got it exactly! 👌 👍

[Andrew Neil]

@Dana Myers​ "Based on my experience, 'Download' means programming the STM32"

Indeed, that would be my default interpretation.

But, as noted, the terms are (now) often used with the opposite meanings!

[Dana Myers]

No argument from me (though, in CubeProgrammer, the context makes it obvious what it means).

[Dana Myers]

I won't grumble about Arduino here 😁

[Tesla DeLorean]

And it's not that either of us are confused, but that when we switch between tools and platforms, it becomes a matter of being sure WHAT the tool thinks it means in any different context.

[Dana Myers]

I solved that problem a long time ago when I swore off using Arduino IDE 😁

[Andrew Neil]

@Dana Myers​ - "the context makes it obvious"

Actually, I was trying to help someone remotely, and only had their CubeProgrammer log to go on - no other context.

So when the log said "Uploading" it wasn't at all clear what it meant; especially as they were trying to program a device - not read it!

I hadn't used CubeProgrammer before.

"I solved that problem a long time ago when I swore off using Arduino IDE"

Sadly, that doesn't work - the world is now full of people who speak "the Arduino way"

:\

Especially with tools like the CubeProgrammer, it's unclear whether ST might be playing to that audience ...