Mastering GUI Programming with Python

Expanding the circuit

To begin, power off the Raspberry Pi and let's add some components to the circuit, as shown in the following diagram:

Here, we've essentially added a button and a resistor. The button needs to be connected to pin 8 on the Pi on one side, and the resistor, which is connected to ground, on the other. To keep the wiring clean, we've also taken advantage of the common ground and common voltage rails on the side of the breadboard, although this is optional (you can just connect things directly to the appropriate GND and 5V pins on the Pi, if you prefer).

The push buttons that are often found in starter kits have four connectors—two ...