Raspberry Pi 3 in easy steps

by Mike McGrath

Overview

The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive programmable credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It can be used for many of the things that your PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and playing games, but its real purpose is to inspire children (and adults) to learn how to program. Over five million Raspberry Pis have been sold worldwide, so far!

Raspberry Pi 3 in easy steps starts with the basic components you”ll need, setting up the system and logging into the console. Then, in easy steps, it introduces you to the Raspbian operating system that is optimized for the Raspberry Pi. You”ll learn how to customize the look and feel of your system, how to navigate the file system, and how to use the powerful system “shell” to make things happen for you. The new GPIO interface is fully described, and the new NOOBS installer is also described for setup.

Raspberry Pi 3 in easy steps enables complete beginners to create their very own computer programs with the Scratch visual programming environment. It also instructs programming in the high-level (human-readable) Python programming language, which is processed by the Python “interpreter” to produce results fast. Examples demonstrate how to use the included Python “pygame” module, to make your own games, and how to use the included “Tkinter” module to create graphical windowed apps.

Raspberry Pi 3 in easy steps also illustrates how to control electrical input and output on the Raspberry Pi header from Python scripts, including lighting a lamp, adding more buttons and controlling projects. With the knowledge gained from this book the reader can confidently advance to any future electronic Raspberry Pi project or other explore other programming environments.

Covers the latest versions of Python.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781840787290
Publisher:	In Easy Steps Limited
Publication date:	07/19/2016
Series:	In Easy Steps
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Mike McGrath gained his extensive knowledge of computer languages while working as a developer contracting to companies around the world. Mike is an established In Easy Steps author with several guides to his credit including: C++; Javascript, Java, Linux, PHP, SQL and Visual Basic Express. He lives in Manchester, U.K.

Table of Contents

1 Getting started 7

Introducing Raspberry Pi 8

Gathering the components 10

Setting up the SD card 12

Configuring the system 14

Logging into the console 16

Starting the desktop 18

Automating the login 20

Summary 22

2 Exploring the desktop 23

Understanding the taskbar 24

Choosing your preferences 26

Examining the filesystem 28

Launching a terminal 30

Creating a text file 32

Browsing the internet 34

Extending the system 36

Summary 38

3 Commanding the system 39

Listing contents 40

Getting applications 42

Saving web pages 44

Reading & writing text 46

Finding files 48

Adding users 50

Changing permissions 52

Employing the shell 54

Creating shell scripts 56

Summary 58

4 Animating with Scratch 59

Walking a sprite 60

Changing directions 62

Adding another sprite 64

Editing costumes 66

Turning around 68

Reacting to touch 70

Playing sounds 72

Summary 74

5 Programming with Python 75

Introducing the interpreter 76

Writing your first program 78

Writing lists 80

Manipulating lists 82

Fixing in tuples 84

Collecting in sets 86

Associating in dictionaries 88

Testing expressions 90

Looping while true 92

Looping over items 94

Looping for a number 96

Breaking out of loops 98

Defining functions 100

Supplying arguments 102

Summary 104

6 Importing modules 105

Storing functions 106

Owning function names 108

Formatting strings 110

Reading & writing files 112

Pickling objects 114

Handling exceptions 116

Defining classes 118

Inheriting features 120

Interrogating the system 122

Performing mathematics 124

Calculating decimals 126

Telling the time 128

Summary 130

7 Producing games 131

Creating a game window 132

Painting shapes 134

Blitting objects 136

Playing sounds 138

Moving images 140

Animating sprites 142

Detecting collisions 144

Summary 146

8 Developing windowed apps 147

Introducing Tkinter 148

Adding widgets 150

Responding to buttons 152

Producing messages 154

Gathering entries 156

Listing options 158

Polling radio buttons 160

Checking boxes 162

Displaying images 164

Adjusting attributes 166

Managing layouts 168

Summary 170

9 Driving header pins 171

Understanding pin numbering 172

Lighting a lamp 174

Directing output 176

Adding more lamps 178

Recognizing input 180

Adding more buttons 182

Controlling projects 184

Summary 186

Index 187