Physical Computing: Wiring
What is Wiring?
"Wiring is an open source electronics prototyping platform composed of a programming environment (IDE), an electronics prototyping board, documentation thoughtfully created with designers and artists in mind and community where experts, intermediate and beginners from around the world share ideas, knowledge and their collective experience."
(from the Wiring website)
1. The Wiring board
The Wiring I/O board is a small circuit board that includes a tiny computer known as microcontroller. You can think of the Wiring board as a small, standalone computer that can connect to many different devices. This mini-computer can be programmed in the Wiring programming environment to control all kinds of sensors and actuators. Sensors (e.g. a temperature sensor) allow you to get information from the world around you (input) while actuators (e.g. a motor) allow you to cause something to happen in the physical world. The Wiring board connects to sensors and actuators via its pins.
UPDATE: Nowadays, the Wiring board comes in a variety of sizes and technologies. Check the schematic that corresponds to your version of the board!
2. The Wiring IDE
Your Wiring board is, of course, programmable. Using the Wiring programming environment, you can write small programs to be executed by your microcontroller.
UPDATE: Wiring 1.0 got a makeover! This is history...
