Chapter 1
Introduction to Physical Computing
IN THIS CHAPTER
Discovering how to use a Raspberry Pi
Understanding how to use small computers
Using a Raspberry Pi to sense the environment around you
Making your computer do physical things
We have been talking about how to program in Python for the last several hundred pages in this book. It is now time to use our newly acquired Python skills to start doing things in the real world. We call this physical computing — making a computer interact with the world around you!
In our opinion, it is more difficult to learn about the software (Python) than it is about the hardware. That’s why this book is mostly focused on learning how to program computers with Python. But now it is time to learn how to make your computers do something with Python.
In this chapter, we hook up various sensors and motors to a Raspberry Pi computer. Although the voltages (3.3V and 5V) used with these computers are not dangerous to people, hooking up things incorrectly ...
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