Arduino Workshop Notes
Thursday, August 19 2010
Agenda
Basic: Intro to Electronics; Intro to Microcontrollers; Install and run Arduino IDE; Intro to Arduino Advanced topic: Counters and timers
Intro to Electronics
closed/open circuits; schematic; switch; transistor
Intro to Microcontrollers
Miniature computer with special features: transistors attached to pins (Digital Outputs) that you can control in your program
Intro to Microcontrollers
First workshop
topics 1-electronics 2-arduino 3-programming
1. open circuit vs closed circuit vs short circuit. short circuits are easy to do and not notice, it just breaks your components.
electricity - mechanical controls of electricity
electronics - electrical control of electricity
transistor - an electronic switch
Electric current is the flow of electrical charge through a conductor
voltage - analogous to water pressure current - analogous to water flow rate (e.g. gallons per minute) resistance - somewhat analogous to a blockage in a water pipe, reducing the rate of flow
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2. digital pins 0-13: each can be either output OR input. When output, each pin corresponds to an individual transistor which is under your control (via your program)
DIP-name of type of chip, with 2 parallel rows of legs (DIP = Dual Inline Package)
3. software environment - file-examples-
/*multiline comments*/
//short comments at end of line
2 things minimum to make a program
void setup () {entire function}
void loop () {entire function}
(don't worry about the "void" for now)
installing drivers: comes with the software kit
once installed tools/serial port menu gets clickable, choose your port. then make sure you chose the right chip!!