Getting Started with Arduino

By Massimo Banzi
October 2008
Pages: 128
ISBN 10: 0-596-15551-4 | ISBN 13: 9780596155513
Press Release
(4) (Average of 2 Customer Reviews)

Description

This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for projects and helps you get going on them right away. To use the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED. This 128-page book is a greatly expanded follow-up to the author's original short PDF that's available on the Arduino website.
Full Description

This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for Arduino projects and helps you get going on them right away. From getting organized to putting the final touches on your prototype, all the information you need is right in the book.

Inside, you'll learn about:

Interaction design and physical computing
The Arduino hardware and software development environment
Basics of electricity and electronics
Prototyping on a solderless breadboard
Drawing a schematic diagram

And more. With inexpensive hardware and open-source software components that you can download free, getting started with Arduino is a snap. To use the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED.

Join the tens of thousands of hobbyists who have discovered this incredible (and educational) platform. Written by the co-founder of the Arduino project, with illustrations by Elisa Canducci, Getting Started with Arduino gets you in on the fun! This 128-page book is a greatly expanded follow-up to the author's original short PDF that's available on the Arduino website.

Featured customer reviews

Good Beginner, January 19 2009

Rating:

Submitted by SGNB221 [Respond | View]

Getting Started with Arduino is a good way to do just that. The book gives a good basic tutorial on electrical circuits, troubleshooting, and programming. It is focused on the practical application of those fields and doesn't cover with much depth the concepts of those fields.However, it does give enough information for a beginner to produce and expand upon circuits and gives the experienced a good introduction to use the Arduino system in their projects. All in all this is a good beginning book for anyone, especially young ones, to get started with Arduino.

Getting Started with Arduino, January 12 2009

Rating:

Submitted by Eric [Respond | View]

This book is an introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform known as Arduino. Arduino is a single-board computer that can be the basis for interactive electronics projects like art installations, interactive environments, and appliance controls. A project is created by connecting different sensors, LEDs, motors, etc. to the board. Software programs can then be written in the Arduino programming language running on a host computer (Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux) and uploaded via USB. The book is less than 120 pages and is a quick read, but serves as a perfect entrance to the Arduino world of programming and to the growing Arduino community on the World Wide Web. An Arduino board can be built from the open-source schematics available on the Arduino website (http://arduino.cc/) or can be purchased pre-assembled (for less than $40 USD) from one of the many vendors available.

The book's back cover states that the reader will learn about several topics, like interaction design, physical computing as well as the basics of electricity and electronics. While this is true to a point, some of the most compelling material in the book is Mr. Banzi's explanation of the mindset from which Arduino grew and which surrounds it now. I enjoyed his stories about taking apart different things as a child and some of his experiences with different technology. I remember wanting a "50-in-1 Electronics Kit" from RadioShack that never seemed to materialize under the Christmas tree, despite countless reminders to my parents over the course of several years. With Arduino, there is no upper limit to the number of projects possible. As Mr. Banzi says, the word that best captures the spirit of Arduino and this type of new media is "tinkering" and it is the tinkerer's willingness to start on a particular journey without a goal, but with the willingness to play, plain and simple, with the attached components, that yields the most interesting results. An improvisatory approach to the creation of projects is further underscored by the convention of referring to Arduino projects as "sketches." Mr. Banzi's passion for the subject matter comes shining through.

There are only a handful of actual projects in the book and they range in complexity from periodically lighting an LED to the more bizarre but elegant project of using a WWW newsfeed to control a lamp. However, even in the simpler examples, the book explores the mindset necessary to deal with the various analog and digital inputs and outputs of the Arduino board. In fact, the reader is shown how to "think" like the board to further their own project development.

The book assumes the reader can find their way around a computer with some ease. One can type in the programming examples or can in fact download them from the Makezine.com website. Most people who would be interested in this topic are probably well versed in electronics or computers and would not find it too daunting. There are only a few errata on the O'Reilly website. I found only one point in the book where I would have formatted it differently. This is during the explanation of the setup for computer drivers for Windows and Mac OS X (there is no such coverage for Linux). The last two paragraphs on page 24 are under the driver setup for Windows, when in fact they are applicable to both operating systems. I was paying attention mostly to the Mac OS X instructions and was surprised to find on page 25 that the Arduino interactive development environment (IDE) had already been launched, but I hadn't been instructed to do so.

This book is certainly worth the price and would probably be passed on to a friend once a little experience with the development paradigm has been gained. There are countless programs, free examples and documentation of other user projects on the WWW. Also, the vendors listed on the Arduino website have more challenging peripheral components one can explore or that can provide inspiration for further projects.

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Media reviews
"I cannot offer high enough praise for this brief, artistic, introduction to the Arduino Microcontroller and its enthusiastic user community."
-- Ira Laefsky, Amazon.com

"The book is less than 120 pages and is a quick read, but serves as a perfect entrance to the Arduino world of programming and to the growing Arduino community on the World Wide Web. "
-- Eric Forte, Lotus Notes Developer/Administrator

"The book is written in a way that an interested, but completely inexperienced person should be able to pick it up and read it, comprehend it, and begin to use the platform. The text gives a clear and easy introduction to electronics without bogging down the casual newcomer in the details."
-- Matthew Helmke, MatthewHelmke.net

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