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

Using offline IDEs for MicroPython

Python programs can also be written and executed with the help of specialized software known as IDEs. The reference implementation of Python (CPython) comes with an IDE known as IDLE. The following is a screenshot of IDLE in action (Figure 2.12) on a Windows computer:

Figure 2.12 – IDLE in action

There is no doubt that IDLE has a great interface. However, it works with CPython and not with MicroPython. We have already seen how we can work with web editors for MicroPython. In this section, we will explore a few desktop IDEs for MicroPython.

The Thonny Python IDE

Let’s go over how to install and use the Thonny Python IDE. We can visit https://thonny.org/ for the installation files. In the top-right corner of the page, we have options for Windows, macOS, and commands for installation on distributions of Linux. Thonny comes bundled with a Python interpreter of its own. It may not conform to the latest CPython...