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Getting Started with the Photon: Making Things with the Affordable, Compact, Hackable WiFi Module
The Photon is an open source, inexpensive, programmable, WiFi-enabled module for building connected projects and prototypes. Powered by an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller and a Broadcom WiFi chip, the Photon is just as happy plugged into a hobbyist's breadboard as it is into a product rolling off of an assembly line.
While the Photon--and its accompanying cloud platform--is designed as a ready-to-go foundation for product developers and manufacturers, it's great for Maker projects, as you'll see in this book. You'll learn how to get started with the free development tools, deploy your sketches over WiFi, and build electronic projects that take advantage of the Photon's processing power, cloud platform, and input/output pins. What's more, the Photon is backward-compatible with its predecessor, the Spark Core.
While the Photon--and its accompanying cloud platform--is designed as a ready-to-go foundation for product developers and manufacturers, it's great for Maker projects, as you'll see in this book. You'll learn how to get started with the free development tools, deploy your sketches over WiFi, and build electronic projects that take advantage of the Photon's processing power, cloud platform, and input/output pins. What's more, the Photon is backward-compatible with its predecessor, the Spark Core.
- GenresTechnology
250 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 14, 2015
19 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 2, 2015
I HATE THIS BOOK!!!
Look, I, probably like you, already have too many projects. My autonomous pedal car is barely off the ground, my world's slowest music box is stalled, and I haven't even started my solar wind chime. And that's only three! Now the Photon comes along with its associated IoT service and renders the Internet of Things a piece of cake. How can I resist not diving in?
The Photon is a microcontroller, similar to but not compatible with the Arduino. As such, if you have any experience using the Arduino then you pretty much already know how to use the Photon. And if you have no Arduino experience you'll find the Photon learning curve to be quite shallow. What really differentiates the Photon from the Arduino is the integrated WiFi. Yep, the Photon comes with WiFi already on board. And it comes with an IoT service that makes building web pages granting access to you devices pretty much seamless. Programming is done in a C-like language and uses the intuitive Spark library to allow device interaction thru api.spark.io. I won't go into details here but, believe me, the IoT has never been this simple and accessible.
Truth to tell it'll probably be a few months before I buy the incredibly inexpensive Photon. (that autonomous pedal car really is my top priority) But Chapter Six, "If This Then That", is knowledge I've already put to use. This web service allows you tie various web services together. Want an e-mail everytime someone mention you on Twitter. Go to IFTTT.com and set up a simple recipe. Want to automatically save the photos you post on Facebook to your Dropbox. Go to IFTTT.com and set up a simple recipe. If This Then That is a wonder all on its own but in conjunction with the Photon it becomes a very powerful tool.
And I won't even go into publish/subscribe.
So, buy this book, buy a Photon starter kit, and get your devices on the Internet of Things. Do it now! (before you pile on yet more unfinished projects…)
Look, I, probably like you, already have too many projects. My autonomous pedal car is barely off the ground, my world's slowest music box is stalled, and I haven't even started my solar wind chime. And that's only three! Now the Photon comes along with its associated IoT service and renders the Internet of Things a piece of cake. How can I resist not diving in?
The Photon is a microcontroller, similar to but not compatible with the Arduino. As such, if you have any experience using the Arduino then you pretty much already know how to use the Photon. And if you have no Arduino experience you'll find the Photon learning curve to be quite shallow. What really differentiates the Photon from the Arduino is the integrated WiFi. Yep, the Photon comes with WiFi already on board. And it comes with an IoT service that makes building web pages granting access to you devices pretty much seamless. Programming is done in a C-like language and uses the intuitive Spark library to allow device interaction thru api.spark.io. I won't go into details here but, believe me, the IoT has never been this simple and accessible.
Truth to tell it'll probably be a few months before I buy the incredibly inexpensive Photon. (that autonomous pedal car really is my top priority) But Chapter Six, "If This Then That", is knowledge I've already put to use. This web service allows you tie various web services together. Want an e-mail everytime someone mention you on Twitter. Go to IFTTT.com and set up a simple recipe. Want to automatically save the photos you post on Facebook to your Dropbox. Go to IFTTT.com and set up a simple recipe. If This Then That is a wonder all on its own but in conjunction with the Photon it becomes a very powerful tool.
And I won't even go into publish/subscribe.
So, buy this book, buy a Photon starter kit, and get your devices on the Internet of Things. Do it now! (before you pile on yet more unfinished projects…)
July 7, 2017
The author does a nice job of introducing his reader to the Photon as well as other WiFi shield options early on and then delves into how to use the Photon through a series of DIY IoT projects. The book also gives the reader a good idea of the libraries, documentation, and community available to Photon users.
November 5, 2015
Not incredibly well-written, and way more basic than expected.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews