LESSON 01 – INTRO TO PROGRAMMING

ARDUINO

An Arduino is a programmable microcontroller that can be used to create advanced electronics projects. We can create a program (list of commands) and have the Arduino continuously execute it.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

A programming language is a language that is designed specifically to communicate instructions (commands) to a computer. We create all software programs by using a programming language. The most famous PLs include Java, C, C++ and Python.

ARDUINO’S LANGUAGE

The programming language used by Arduino resembles Java and C++. The libraries (built-in commands) are in C++.

SYNTAX

Every programming language has rules regarding how the commands are stated. For example, many languages require a semi-colon at the end of simple commands in order to specify that the line is over. These rules and how to use them is called syntax.

LEARNING A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

We could easily spend an entire semester learning an advanced programming language. However, we will focus on the basics for this unit.