Table of Contents
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
1. What Is MicroPython?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Why Micro? 2
Why Python? 4
MicroPython Genesis 9
Dive In! 12
2. PyBoard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Hardware 17
Developer Setup 18
3. BBC micro:bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Hardware 25
Developer Setup 27
4. Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Hardware 34
Developer Setup 36
5. ESP8266 / ESP32. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Hardware 41
Developer Setup 42
ESP8266 42
ESP32 45
6. Thinking Embedded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Human Drives 53
Abilities of Enchantment 56
Steps on the Ladder of Enchantment 60
7. Visual Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Blinkenlights 63
NeoPixels (Blinkenlights on Steroids) 67
Text, Images, and Animation 70
PyBoard Colour LCD Display 75
8. Input and Sensing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Buttons and Capacitative Touch 81
Accelerometers, Gestures, and Compasses 89
Sound, Light, and Temperature 91
Sensing with Peripherals 95
9. GPIO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Pins 99
UART 103
SPI 105
I2C 108
Miscellaneous GPIO Techniques and Protocols 110
10. Networking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Circuit Playground Express Infrared 115
The micro:bit Radio 120
ESP8266/32 WiFi 128
MQTT 136
11. Sound and Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Bleeps and Bloops 141
Music 151
Speech 154
12. Robots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Trundle Bot 163
Racer Bot 169
13. Idiomatic MicroPython. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
The Zen of MicroPython 177
Memory 177
Performance 182
14. Next Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
The Community 185
Going Deeper 186
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

 It’s an exciting time to get involved with MicroPython, the re-implementation of Python 3 for microcontrollers and embedded systems. This practical guide delivers the knowledge you need to roll up your sleeves and create exceptional embedded projects with this lean and efficient programming language. If you’re familiar with Python as a programmer, educator, or maker, you’re ready to learn―and have fun along the way.

 Author Nicholas Tollervey takes you on a journey from first steps to advanced projects. You’ll explore the types of devices that run MicroPython, and examine how the language uses and interacts with hardware to process input, connect to the outside world, communicate wirelessly, make sounds and music, and drive robotics projects.

• Work with MicroPython on four typical devices: PyBoard, the micro:bit, Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express, and ESP8266/ESP32 boards
• Explore a framework that helps you generate, evaluate, and evolve embedded projects that solve real problems
• Dive into practical MicroPython examples: visual feedback, input and sensing, GPIO, networking, sound and music, and robotics
• Learn how idiomatic MicroPython helps you express a lot with the minimum of resources
• Take the next step by getting involved with the Python community