Arduino Cookbook, 3rd Edition

Preface

This book was written by Michael Margolis and Brian Jepson with Nick Weldin to help you explore the amazing things you can do with Arduino.

Arduino is a family of microcontrollers (tiny computers) and a software creation environment that makes it easy for you to create programs (called sketches) that can interact with the physical world. Things you make with Arduino can sense and respond to touch, sound, position, heat, and light. This type of technology, often referred to as physical computing, is used in all kinds of things from smartphones to automobile electronics systems. Arduino makes it possible for anyone with an interest—even people with no programming or electronics experience—to use this rich and complex technology.

Who This Book Is For

This book is aimed at readers interested in using computer technology to interact with the environment. It is for people who want to quickly find the solution to hardware and software problems. The recipes provide the information you need to accomplish a broad range of tasks. It also has details to help you customize solutions to meet your specific needs. There is insufficient space in this book to cover general theoretical background, so links to external references are provided throughout the book. See “What Was Left Out” for some general references for those with no programming or electronics experience.

If you have no programming experience—perhaps you have a great idea for an interactive project but don’t have the skills ...