Adventures in Arduino

actuator

A device that translates an electrical signal into a real-world action such as light, sound or movement. Examples include motors, lights and speakers.

alligator clips

Wires with spring-loaded clips that resemble the jaws of an alligator. They are useful for prototyping soft circuits or connecting components that don’t use jumper wires.

analogue

A signal that varies between LOW and HIGH, as opposed to a digital signal. On the Arduino Uno, an analogue signal can be measured as a number between 0 for ground and 1023 for 5V. An analogue signal can be output as a value between 0 for 0V and 255 for 5V.

anode

The positive leg of a directional component, such as the long leg of an LED.

argument

A piece of information given to a function, which the function then uses to perform its task. The argument goes inside the brackets that follow the function name. For example, the function delay(1000) has the argument 1000, which is the number of milliseconds you want the Arduino to wait before executing the next line.

array

A list of the same type of thing in code. For example, an array can hold a list of ints.

binary

A number that uses only the digits 0 and 1, as opposed to decimal, which uses the digits 0 to 9. Binary is also known as base-2. Decimal is referred to as base-10.

breadboard

A reusable device that allows you to create circuits without needing to solder all the components. ...