Arduino Sketches: Tools and Techniques for Programming Wizardry

CHAPTER1

Introduction to Arduino

Electronics enthusiasts have always been present. For decades, they have been creating interesting devices and products. Amateur radio enthusiasts typically made their own radio sets using schematics found in magazines or simply from their own design. How many of us built a radio system to discover electronics, only to be hooked? With a few dollars' worth of components, you could create your own radio and listen to glorious long-wave transmissions on a small low-quality speaker, and yet it was better than what could be bought in the shops because it was homemade. If you wanted better sound, you could buy a better speaker. More volume? There were kits for that, too. Audiophiles built their own amplifiers and accessories depending on their needs. Electronics shops proposed books for all levels, from beginner to expert. Kits were also available using the simplest of components all the way to entire computer systems. It was a time in which you could build just about anything, and everything. You could, quite literally, walk into an electronics shop, buy a DIY computer, and spend a few hours soldering memory chips onto a printed circuit board. That's how I started.

In the 1990s, things changed slightly. Most hobbyists had a PC on their desk and could use them to create schematics, simulate parts of a system, and even print circuit board with transparent layouts, making the entire process much easier. However, something was missing. Almost all the devices ...