Arduino Cookbook [Paperback]

Michael Margolis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2011

Create your own toys, remote controllers, alarms, detectors, robots, and many other projects with the Arduino device. This simple microcontroller board lets artists and designers build a variety of amazing objects and prototypes that interact with the physical world. With this cookbook you can dive right in and experiment with more than a hundred tips and techniques, no matter what your skill level is.

The recipes in this book provide solutions for most common problems and questions Arduino users have, including everything from programming fundamentals to working with sensors, motors, lights, and sound, or communicating over wired and wireless networks. You'll find the examples and advice you need to begin, expand, and enhance your projects right away.

• Get to know the Arduino development environment
• Understand the core elements of the Arduino programming language
• Use common output devices for light, motion, and sound
• Interact with almost any device that has a remote control
• Learn techniques for handling time delays and time measurement
• Use simple ways to transfer digital information from sensors to the Arduino device
• Create complex projects that incorporate shields and external modules
• Use and modify existing Arduino libraries, and learn how to create your own

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Margolis is a technologist in the field of real time computing with expertise in developing and delivering hardware and software for interacting with the environment. He has over 30 years of experience in a wide range of relevant technologies, working with Sony, Microsoft, Lucent/Bell Labs, and most recently as Chief Technical Officer with Avaya.

Product Details

• Paperback: 662 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (March 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596802471
• ISBN-13: 978-0596802479
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Robotics

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 132 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Only for beginners August 4, 2011

By Gary Strawn

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the first time I have ever considered returning a book to Amazon. I purchased this book based on the great reviews and a brief glance through the online preview pages. However, once I received the book I realized that it is not at all what I am looking for.

If you are new to programming, this book may be great. If you already know how to program but want to learn about the Arduino, this is NOT the book for you.

For example, chapters 1-3 discuss basic such as for loops (section 2.14) and the sqrt() function (section 3.8). This book works hard to avoid "advanced" subjects such as pointers and printf. Even in "Chapter 17: Advanced Coding and Memory Handling", there is barely any mention of heap and stack (SRAM) versus static (flash) memory. Sure, Ch.17 mentions the keyword PROGMEM but for any further details, the reader is referred to [...]. I don't need a general discussion of memory management, I bought this book hoping for information on the specific features and quirks of Arduino.

Want to learn about Arduino sleep modes? "18.10: Reducing Battery Drain" might seem like a good recipe. Don't bother though, all it does is reprint the most basic example of using the freely available Narcoleptic library from code.google.com. There is no mention of various Arduino sleep levels, how they may affect your code and what they do to the internal timers.

Let's pick a more basic example, how about a real-time clock? There is absolutely no discussion of the hardware side of a real-time clock. On the software side, there are a couple simple examples on using the standard C time library. It's a bit misleading to see "#include <Time.h>" in recipe 12.4 (note the <> brackets). Yes, <time.h> is a standard C library.... No, it is not a standard part of the Arduino C library. So the book's example code won't even compile and there is no explanation as to why. The only mention of Time.h being a separate download is a vague mention in the "See Also" section which refers to the [...] website. An experienced programmer should be able to figure this out but anybody that needs three chapters on basic programming may need a bit more of an explanation.

In my opinion, that is where this book repeatedly fails. It acts like each recipe is a self contained problem/solution set. In reality, the majority of print is wasted on repeating the basics in every recipe and all the good information is left to the "See Also" references. What use is this book if I have to look everything up myself anyways?

If you are new to programming and need help with concepts like pointers or i++ instead of i = i + 1; then find a real C programming tutorial (K&R is my recommendation). If you are looking for specific information on how the Arduino actually works, save yourself a few bucks and visit [...] because that's all that this book will tell you to do anyways. Read more ›

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive & Well Illustrated Reference Sourcebook for The Arduino March 28, 2011

By Ira Laefsky VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This Comprehensive Sourcebook represents a novel and much needed addition to the Arduino literature. Up until now many tutorials have been introduced which allow a hobbyist new to physical computing, to duplicate a range of experiments that will gradually increase his/her knowledge of the Arduino hardware, software library and IDE and show examples of interfacing to a variety of devices. This revolutionary sourcebook is most useful for the hobbyist who has gone beyond reproducing other people's experiments and now needs a easy-to-consult guide to any hardware, software, interfacing or communication problem s/he is likely to encounter in designing his own practical application (or advanced experiment with the Arduino. Fully-fleshed out explanations of the IDE and Software Library, constructing your own routines and libraries, device i/o with Digital, Analog and A/C line Connected Devices, as well as almost any type of Communication (Bluetooth, Zigbee, Ethernet or HTTP protocols). The detailed table of contents, clear illustrations and extensive index of this reference make finding the piece of Arduino lore you seek a pleasure.

This is the book for an Arduino, or other Physical Computing hobbyist who has gone beyond following other people's instruction and who now seeks a useful and comprehensive reference that will serve for years to come in a variety of Intermediate and Advanced Projects.

--Ira Laefsky
IT & HCI Researcher and Consultant Formerly on the Senior Staff of Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation
A Participant in the Philly Hackerspace--Hive 76

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Arduino Cookbook - Great Arduino Recipes April 6, 2011

By Steve Spence

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an awesome tutorial, idea starter, and has a lot of background material to bring you up to speed, quickly. Unfortunately, in the Kindle (ebook) version, there are several illustration mix ups. Swapped images, duplicates, etc. Hopefully that will be fixed in the next edition, or slipstreamed into current production. Still a very good value!

4-25-11 Update - O'Reilly sent me a updated version. Hoping Amazon starts sending it out as well.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book April 7, 2011

By Conor M. Power

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had to wait a long time for this book, but it was worth it. It is well written, broad in its topics and is a very useful reference. I only wish I had this when I branched out beyond the basic Arduino.

If I had two books that I would recommend for Arduino enthusiasts, my choices would be the The Arduino Cookbook and Beginning Arduino by M. Roberts. They are all you really need to solve many of the problems you might have.

The Arduino Cookbook should be on your prime Arduino reference and idea base. You can't go wrong getting it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb -- Wide range of topics, complete examples April 30, 2011

By Pelagic

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Margolis' book gives us an exceptionally broad coverage of Arduino projects with complete and workable programming examples that are explained in a direct and matter-of-fact style. For these reasons alone, it's the most useful -- and most easily comprehended -- book on programming I've read in a long time.

His explanations of the code and hardware setups are the best I've seen.

For example, take the latter chapters on timers and interrupts. I had downloaded the 400-500 page Atmel datasheets and spent many hours unsuccessfully trying to understand how to use these features -- to no success. Margolis gives us a clear overview of their operation and explains the essential aspects of using them, with practical code examples that you can copy for your projects. He tells us what we need to know to get the job done, explaining every essential fact, and omits obfuscating details, of which there are many.

In contrast, the datasheets covers them down to gate and register levels, about 50-60 pages of detail, without any helpful advice on what-is/what-isn't important and nothing about how it all comes together in the big picture of a working code example. I've never read a description of timers and interrupts for any CPU that was as clear, helpful, complete and to the point as what he provides.

It's actually a pleasure to read ALL his chapters. In over 600 pages there's no wasted motion or missing ingredients. The number of topics/projects is shocking -- that one person could master it all and write so clearly and completely about them.

Every chapter works both as a reference for the topic at hand and has useful, fully workable, code and circuit layout examples. I'm not going to list the 18 chapter titles here as they are available elsewhere.... Each topic is fully developed and receives the same evenhanded and consistent coverage. He starts with the simplest working example, then adds to it to build a more useful project. Like Einstein said of Physics, "be as simple as possible, but no simpler."

The Arduino Cookbook -- complete and jam-packed with goodies you will find helpful and inspiring as it is -- is not the first book you should get.

There are a handful of basic, getting-started Arduino books on Amazon. These, in my opinion, are super for showing you pictures and lots of diagrams to build the specific projects that are included. But they fail as references and really do not explain what the code is doing in a helpful way. If you want to go beyond, you're often left to your own devices. But these ARE very helpful in helping you install the Arduino software, connecting to the board itself, and coding, downloading and running the code on the board.

The Arduino Cookbook covers these start-up topics briefly, but his momentum is to move on to more compelling topics and to projects that YOU can create -- with the additional and necessary info and examples you need to have.

You also should have some c/c++ programming experience. The "Arduino language" is c++ with some additional elements and simplifications (in libraries and macros) and some features not needed for a microprocessor. You can download plenty of c/c++ documentation -- you will need it.

Since reviews seem to demand a CONS section, I'll add that he should have included a few pages about the Atmel microprocessors. For example, the types and amounts of memory is not in the book. (Although he does give us code that displays the amount of available RAM.) This is a trivial complaint! The answer is the ATmega382 has 32KB of flash (where your program is downloaded to and runs from), 1KB of EEPROM (the "hard drive," to semi-permanently store data even when powered off), and 2KB of RAM (for variables, stack, and any data that changes while the program runs). The Arduino MEGA2560 has 256KB, 4KB, and 8KB, respectively. I also wish that he gave us a fuller description of the pins and their many uses. Otherwise -- perfecto!

"The Arduino Cookbook" is THE best Arduino book. Get it if you have the slightest notion of building any project that's more than just a literal copy of something from another books. Read more ›