The Arduino micro-controller’s super low cost, versatility, and wide-ranging user base (from 10 year old kids with no electronics background to sophisticated electronics professionals) makes it a natural choice for any budding product designer, inventor, or artist looking to build a prototype of their project. Even so, when pondering this credit-card sized tiny computer with its idiosyncratic pin space for the first time, it’s not obvious where to start. In this course, Arduino expert Marc De Vinck offers a time tested, fool-proof, and systematic approach to Arduino prototype planning, testing, and production.

• Explore what every 1st time Arduino user should know before using the Arduino platform
• Learn why you should make a paper plan of a prototype before you touch the micro-controller
• Master the basics of reading electronic schematics and how to use a breadboard
• Understand how to write Arduino code and gain access to sources of free reusable code
• Gain a core understanding of the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
• Learn to connect the Arduino to the IDE and run your first "Hello World" program
• Get wise to Arduino buttons, switches, potentiometers, and power strategies
• Learn the basics of creating your own printed circuit boards

Marc De Vinck is the Dexter F. Baker Professor of Practice in Creativity at Lehigh University. He is a former director of product development at MAKE magazine who sits on the Advisory Council at the New York Hall of Science Innovation Institute. Marc says that one of his greatest accomplishments was helping more than 10,000 people learn how to solder. He's a metalsmith, illustrator, 3D modeler, teacher, and writer who co-authored the O'Reilly title MintDuino: Building an Arduino-Compatible Breadboard Microcontroller.