The Official BBC Micro:bit User Guide

Chapter 1

Meet the BBC micro:bit

In this chapter

A look at what the BBC micro:bit is and how it came about

A tour of the BBC micro:bit and an explanation of its major components

THE BBC MICRO:BIT is an incredible device, capable of educating and entertaining in equal measure. It can form the heart of a complex robotic or home automation system, or it can simply show a smiley face when you press a button. It can help you come to grips with programming, learn about how electronics work, and even communicate wirelessly with more BBC micro:bits or other devices such as a smartphone or tablet.

You can write programs for the BBC micro:bit in a variety of programming languages, or you can use programs others have written. You can use the BBC micro:bit in the classroom, the club, the playground, or at home. You can play games, solve problems, and invent new devices, all with your BBC micro:bit.

Before all this, though, you’ll need to meet the BBC micro:bit.

A Tour of the Board

The BBC micro:bit is what is technically known as a microcontroller development board. That is, it’s a printed circuit board (PCB) which contains a microcontroller on which you can run your own programs and connect your own hardware.

The first microcontroller development boards were expensive and complicated to ...