Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers

The primary purpose of this book is to show the reader how to get the computer to interact with the physical world through additional hardware and programming. Although the book seems to be aimed at artists wanting to use the computer in their work, the principles taught can be of use to non-artists too. This book is broken down into two parts. The first, "The Basics", covers all aspects of computing in a very general sense. It is just an overview, and if you are such a beginner that you really need to know about electricity, what a microcontroller is, and what an "if statement" is in programming, you are likely going to need sources other than just this book. The last chapter in the section, "Communicating Between Computers" is the best of the basic chapters. This chapter talks about actual connectors and their pins, testing, and protocols and codes. All code shown in this book is in several flavors of the BASIC language, and the book does a pretty good job of getting you started. The section ends with a discussion on the specifics of serial communication on a multimedia computer. Part one has the following chapters and subsections: Part 1: The Basics Chapter 1. Electricity Transduction: Electrical Basics; Electricity versus Electronics How Electricity Flows; Chapter 2. Shopping Solderless Breadboard; Microcontrollers; Common Components; Wires; Power Supply; Power Connector; Voltage Regulator; RC Servomotor; Serial Connector; Serial Cable; Clock Crystals; Headers; Project Box; Cable Ties; USB-to-Serial Adaptor; Tools ;Shopping List Bringing It All Back Home; Chapter 3. Building Circuits Schematics; Connection Symbols; Power Symbols; Finding Schematics; Breadboards; Where Does the Microcontroller Fit In?; Translating Schematics into Circuits; Using a Multimeter; Soldering; Powering the Breadboard; Be Neat; Chapter 4. The Microcontroller "Hello World!" Is the Hard Part; Where Does the Microcontroller Fit In?; Routing Inputs to Outputs; Identifying the Pins of the Microcontroller; Lower-Level Microcontrollers: External Clock; Your First Microcontroller-Based Circuit; Getting Your Program to the Chip; Programming Stamp-Like Modules; Programming Lower-Level Chips ;Debugging; Chapter 5. Programming The Good News; Flow Control: How a Computer "Reads" a Program; Loops; If Statements; Variables; Built-In Routines: Subroutines and Functions; Homemade Routines; Advanced Loops: While-Wend and For-Next; Pseudocode; Comments; Debugging; Good Debugging Habits; The Bad News; Chapter 6. The "Big Four" Schematics, Programs, and Transducers Digital Input; Digital Output; Analog Output; From Analog in to Analog Out: Scaling Functions; Conclusion; Chapter 7. Communicating between Computers Physical Agreement; Timing Agreement; Electrical Agreement; Package Size; Numbers or Letters: Using ASCII; Software for the Microcontroller; Serial Output from a Microcontroller; Testing with an LED; Testing with Terminal Software; Serial Input to a Microcontroller;

This book really is brilliant for someone wanting to get into programming circuits. I am coming from a computer programming background and wanted to make the move to physical computing. This book goes through every possible aspect and even gives the shopping list and possible stores for the items needed in the excercises. Even if you have no prior electronics or programming experience this book is the ticket. Something to consider is the fact that the programming samples are all in the Basic language. If you want to learn to program microcontrollers in assembly then this book does not cover that.

This is a perfect book. It teaches you, step-by-step with theory, code, examples and illustration, how to design and build your own microcontroller-based electronics projects. You can go from knowing nothing to being a relatively skilled amateur in just days. Futhermore, the book is amazingly comprehensive and covers so many complementary topics in addition to microcontrollers. This superb book answered almost every question (albeit basic) I ever had about electronics. Igoe and Sullivan, please write another book!!

This is a great overview of physical computing.. good for novices who aren't very technical, as well as for those who are more advanced.. basically the best ref out there for getting an overview of how to start building objects that you can interact with.. My background is in design-not computer science. I'd recommend for any designers, architects, filmmakers, etc. who interested in thinking about how to building and designing interactive installations or objects without need to know how to program. Great also for those with CS background, but this book is rare as it's written to span people with diffent degress of technical expertise... and one of the only references for people who aren't just geeks.

This book is terrific, it could be used by a total novice in the field of electronics, and it can also serve as an excellent reference for advanced users. It explains basic principles extremely well and also gives many specific examples, including code for microcontrollers in several different programming languages. Well illustrated, with lots of strategies for designing projects as well as invaluable technical information, this is a great resource.