What is this course about?

Thank you for joining me in Arduino Step by Step: Getting Started!

In this lecture, I will describe the course, so you know exactly what to expect.

Firstly, you may be wondering if this course is right for you. Let’s see:

• Are you just starting now with the Arduino?
• Do you have little or no experience with electronics?
• Do you have little or no experience with programming of any kind?

If you answered “yes” to these questions, this course is right for you.

My first Arduino course was titled simply “Arduino Step by Step”. Over 30,000 people signed up for it. I spent a lot of time helping them in their Arduino adventures, and in the process, I learned a lot about how to best introduce the Arduino and the related concepts to newcomers.

The Arduino is not one thing; it’s a system made of a collection of software and hardware components that works very well together. To understand the Arduino and make interesting gadgets, you must understand those components.

In this first Arduino Step by Step, I realized that I had to improve how I introduce the Arduino to new makers. I have done this with “Arduino Step by Step: Getting Started”.

In “Arduino Step by Step: Getting Started”, I take the necessary time to introduce the components that make the Arduino so important in education and the Maker movement.

I discuss the Arduino itself, explain the most important features of the board and compare it to other Arduinos. I explain digital and analog pins, communications, headers, and power. This helps you to understand the rich diversity available to Arduino makers.

Any knowledge you work hard to gain, you can transfer and re-use with Arduino boards that are better suited to future projects.

Then, I talk about prototyping, the tools you need and explain how to use those tools. This is not about becoming a professional electronics engineer but about getting started. It is much easier than you may think.

Then comes the programming editor, known as the “Arduino IDE”. You will use this tool to write programs (known as “sketches” in Arduino parlance) that your Arduino executes. We will look at the Arduino IDE in detail so that you not only become familiar with it immediately but can use all of its functionality, starting with your first sketch!

I have also included a full section on the basics of the Arduino programming language. You will learn the structure and vocabulary of Arduino language, and you will write your first sketches. I will not cover all the details here; this would require a separate course. But I will show you what you need to know to become an Arduino maker quickly.

By completing this section, you will have the knowledge you need to progress beyond the context of this course. This is where you will learn about buttons, light-emitting diodes, resistors, and potentiometers; perhaps the most often used components in Arduino-powered gadgets.

Up to this point, you have learned about the Arduino, prototyping, the programming environment and the programming language. You have even learned how to use some basic hardware components.

Next, you will put all this knowledge together in experiments.

I will show you how to detect visible, ultraviolet, and colour.

You will learn about environment sensors, from the most basic low-cost types to the more advanced and highly accurate ones.

You will learn to detect movement and orientation so that your gadgets know when they move.

Then, you will learn how to detect other moving objects and people and make your Arduino gadget able to listen to the world around it and make noise!

And finally, you will learn about the different ways by which you can get your Arduino to communicate with you via Liquid Crystal Displays.

Most importantly, you will have the skill of research to find the information you need for building gadgets even if I did not cover the component you need in this course.

Gaining knowledge means gaining independence!

The most important outcome that I will help you gain from this course is the confidence of knowing that you can learn on your own and figure things out.

By the time you finish this course, you will be able to create environment monitors, fortune-telling robots, intruder alarms, mood lamps, and pulsating LED cubes!

You will also be well on your journey of learning more advanced Arduino topics, technologies, and techniques.