I wouldn't say that. Yes the Arduino "libraries" abstract away a lot of the complexities and hinder true understanding. However for a beginner it is a perfect platform simply because of the huge community i.e. tutorials, code and projects. Once they gain confidence from using this, they can move on to "traditional embedded development" by learning to program the underlying AVR directly i.e. use the toolchains installed by the IDE, delete bootloader and upload your program using the ISP interface (see the book; "Make: AVR Programming"). This gives you the best of both worlds using the same development platform. Another advantage is that many other MCU families also provide a "Arduino-like" interface (eg. Energia for MSP430) and thus all the skills learnt on one can be transferred to another.
My take is driven by me finding the Arduino platform too easy. My first exposure to embedded development was Energia, and I was so underwhelmed that I didn't bother with it again until years afterwards, when I downloaded CCS and got to play in the "big leagues". I know multiple people that had that same experience.
If you're already writing software, you're not going to be struggling with having to learn programming. Translated to Arduino, this is great for engineers who don't write software and just need to get simple shit done fast, but for those with a background in software, it feels equal parts mundane (I called analogRead and... got an ADC value, just as expected) and magic (what did analogRead actually do?). Given, you can go look at the source for these libraries, but a lot of them make very generous use of the preprocessor for the sake of supporting multiple products in one codebase, and it's often not pleasant to read. Working with an MSP430 (or basically any architecture if you're using more capable tooling, like you mentioned with AVR) has a certain clarity to it that the Arduino ecosystem just doesn't seem to capture.
I would make the same argument for AVR and the "real deal" tooling as I do the MSP430; why bother with Arduino when you're probably coming in with decent programming skills?
>why bother with Arduino when you're probably coming in with decent programming skills?
Pure Software programming skills are NOT enough when it comes to embedded programming. You need to know the logical interface to the HW and the EE/Electronics behind the HW itself. This is a huge challenge for people who have only worked with applications software over layers of abstraction. This is where the Arduino shines; hide the overwhelming HW complexities and provide a simple api for software guys to get their job done. This allows them to slowly gain HW knowledge and transition to "traditional embedded programming" as needed. Also, many experienced embedded developers are using the Arduino as a rapid prototyping platform to implement an idea quickly and get clarity on the project before implementation on the actual target using traditional means. Learners can do both on the same Arduino platform.
So here is my recipe for somebody wanting to learn Embedded Development;
1) Get a Arduino Uno, a couple of extra ATmega328Ps, a AVR programmer and a electronic components toolkit.
2) Get a book on Arduino programming and AVR programming. I can recommend "Exploring Arduino" and "Make: AVR Programming". You also need a book on Electronics and "Practical Electronics for Inventors" is a pretty good one.
3) Install the Arduino IDE and go through some blinky tutorials. Do some projects from "Exploring Arduino".
4) Now move on to direct AVR programming. The Arduino IDE has already installed the required toolchains. Setup a Makefile environment using them following instructions in "Make: AVR programming". Do some blinky and other projects from this book. This gives a command-line approach to AVR programming.
5) Next repeat the above using a proper vendor supplied IDE eg. Atmel Studio for AVRs. These IDEs are pretty complex but quite powerful and used extensively in the industry. Go through some tutorials and redo the blinky and other projects using the IDE.
6) Get some test equipment tools to look into the inner workings of the system. I recommend the multi-functional "Analog Discovery 2" which has lots of learning tutorials.
Congratulations; you are now a bare-metal "Embedded Developer"!
To enter the "big boys league", move onto ARM Cortex boards.
Finally you get to "Embedded Linux" and become a "Master Super-Duper Embedded Developer" :-)
I wouldn't say that. Yes the Arduino "libraries" abstract away a lot of the complexities and hinder true understanding. However for a beginner it is a perfect platform simply because of the huge community i.e. tutorials, code and projects. Once they gain confidence from using this, they can move on to "traditional embedded development" by learning to program the underlying AVR directly i.e. use the toolchains installed by the IDE, delete bootloader and upload your program using the ISP interface (see the book; "Make: AVR Programming"). This gives you the best of both worlds using the same development platform. Another advantage is that many other MCU families also provide a "Arduino-like" interface (eg. Energia for MSP430) and thus all the skills learnt on one can be transferred to another.