Learn Electronics with Arduino

Book description

This book is your introduction to to physical computing with the Arduino microcontroller platform. No prior experience is required, not even an understanding of basic electronics. With color illustrations, easy-to-follow explanations, and step-by-step instructions, the book takes the beginner from building simple circuits on a breadboard to setting up the Arduino IDE and downloading and writing sketches to run on the Arduino. Readers will be introduced to basic electronics theory and programming concepts, as well as to digital and analog inputs and outputs. Throughout the book, debugging practices are highlighted, so novices will know what to do if their circuits or their code doesn't work for the current project and those that they embark on later for themselves. After completing the projects in this book, readers will have a firm basis for building their own projects with the Arduino.

  • Written for absolute beginners with no prior knowledge of electronics or programming
  • Filled with detailed full-color illustrations that make concepts and procedures easy to follow
  • An accessible introduction to microcontrollers and physical computing
  • Step-by-step instructions for projects that teach fundamental skills
  • Includes a variety of Arduino-based projects using digital and analog input and output
  • Publisher resources

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    Table of contents

    1. Acknowledgments
    2. About the Authors
    3. Preface
    4. Chapter 1: Introduction to Arduino
      1. Physical Computing
      2. Prototyping
      3. What Will I Need and Where Can I Get It?
      4. Parts and Tools
      5. Resources
      6. Summary
    5. Chapter 2: Your Arduino
      1. Parts of an Arduino
      2. Plug Your Arduino into Your Computer
      3. Components and Tools
      4. Summary
    6. Chapter 3: Meet the Circuit
      1. The Circuit: Building Block of Electronics
      2. The Schematic
      3. Using a Breadboard
      4. Building a Circuit
      5. A Look at the Battery
      6. Power for Our Circuit: Electricity
      7. Debugging the Circuit
      8. The Multimeter
      9. Using the Multimeter
      10. Back to Debugging Our Circuit
      11. Summary
    7. Chapter 4: Programming the Arduino
      1. Arduino, Circuits, and Code: Bringing Everything Together
      2. What’s an IDE?
      3. Downloading the Arduino IDE: Getting Started
      4. The Sketch: The Basic Unit of Arduino Programming
      5. Debugging: What to Do if the LED Isn’t Blinking
      6. LEA4_Blink Sketch: An Overview
      7. setup() and loop(): The Guts of Your Code
      8. Looking at loop(): What Happens Over and Over
      9. A Schematic of the Arduino
      10. Building the Basic Circuit
      11. SOS Signal Light: Creating More Complex Timing
      12. Summary
    8. Chapter 5: Electricity and Metering
      1. Understanding Electricity
      2. Build the Circuit Step by Step
      3. Electricity: An Overview
      4. Understanding Electricity: The Water Tank Analogy
      5. Voltage: The Potential
      6. Current: The Flow
      7. Resistance: Restricting the Flow
      8. Voltage, Current, Resistance: Review
      9. How Do Voltage, Current, and Resistance Interact? Ohm’s Law
      10. Components in Parallel and Series
      11. Summary
    9. Chapter 6: Switches, LEDs, and More
      1. Interactivity!
      2. Digital Inputs and Outputs Overview
      3. Digital Input: Add a Button
      4. Looking at the Sketch: Variables
      5. Digital Input Refresher
      6. Looking at the Sketch: Conditional Statements
      7. Add a Speaker and Adjust the Code
      8. Add Two More Buttons and Adjust the Code
      9. Reviewing Electronic and Code Concepts
      10. Summary
    10. Chapter 7: Analog Values
      1. There’s More to Life than On and Off!
      2. Potentiometer Circuit, Step by Step
      3. The LEA7_AnalogInOutSerial Sketch
      4. Analog Input: Values from the Potentiometer
      5. Analog Values as Output: PWM
      6. Serial Communication
      7. Adding the Speaker
      8. Adding the Photoresistor
      9. Summary
    11. Chapter 8: Servo Motors
      1. Waving the Flags
      2. Servos Up Close
      3. Building the Servo Circuit Step by Step
      4. LEA8_Sweep Overview
      5. What’s a for Loop?
      6. Operators
      7. The for Loop in the Sketch
      8. Add Interactivity: Turn the Flag
      9. LEA8_Knob Explained
      10. Two Flags Waving: Add a Second Servo Motor
      11. LEA8_2_servos, First Look
      12. Summary
    12. Chapter 9: Building Your Projects
      1. Project Management
      2. A Few Helpful Components
      3. Types of Projects
      4. Other Versions of the Arduino Board
      5. Document Your Project and Share It!
      6. Summary
    13. Appendix A: Reading Resistor Codes
    14. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Learn Electronics with Arduino
    • Author(s): Jody Culkin, Eric Hagan
    • Release date: September 2017
    • Publisher(s): Make: Community
    • ISBN: 9781680453744