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

MicroPython code editors

There are several online and offline code editors for writing and uploading MicroPython code for microcontrollers. Let’s explore a few of the most popular editors.

Online code editors

One of the best ways to start coding without installing anything is to use the online code editor at https://python.microbit.org/. Currently, there are two versions of this available, and we will explore both versions. The URL points to https://python.microbit.org/v/3. This is the current version of the online code editor, and in the future, it will be accessible at https://python.microbit.org/v/3. Let’s explore it first. When we visit https://python.microbit.org/, the very first thing we see is the following interface:

Figure 2.4 – The online code editor interface

The web page is divided into many sections. We can see that an example code snippet is already present in the middle section. Do not worry about the code as we will...