Book Image

BBC Micro:bit in Practice

By : Ashwin Pajankar, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Saini
Book Image

BBC Micro:bit in Practice

By: Ashwin Pajankar, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Saini

Overview of this book

This book is a one-stop guide for learning BBC Micro:bit with MicroPython, exploring many hardware components and programming techniques to provide detailed insights into developing practical applications with the Micro:bit. It will also show you how hardware components can be manipulated using a combination of Micro:bit and MicroPython for developing practical projects. BBC Micro:bit in Practice will help you gain a holistic understanding of the BBC Micro:bit platform and MicroPython programming, guiding you through mini projects aimed at developing practical knowledge of circuit design and writing programs. You’ll learn how to write programs for working with built-in LEDs and buttons, interfacing external LEDs, buttons, motors, buzzers, and much more. You’ll also work with built-in radio, speakers, accelerometer, and a compass. You’ll dive into concepts related to the Micro:bit filesystem, interfacing external displays, and working with libraries in detail before exploring sewable circuits and wearable technology. After reading this Micro:bit book, you’ll understand how to apply principles in electronics and MicroPython to create interesting real-life projects from scratch.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Started with the BBC Micro:bit
6
Part 2: Programming Hardware with MicroPython
10
Part 3: Filesystems and Programming Analog I/O
13
Part 4: Advanced Hardware Interfacing and Applications

The Python programming language

It is important to know the background of the programming language we plan to use for our code demonstrations. Python (https://www.python.org/) is a general-purpose programming language, and it is free and open source. Python is also an object-oriented, high-level, and interpreted programming language. Figure 2.1 is the logo of the Python (https://www.python.org/community/logos/) programming language:

Figure 2.1 – Python logo (courtesy: the Python Software Foundation)

Python is a dynamically-typed and garbage-collected programming language. Apart from object-oriented programming, it supports other programming paradigms such as functional, structured, and procedural programming. Python also comes with batteries included; this means it comes with a very large standard library.

The Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (abbreviated as CWI, and in English, known as the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer...