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Fathom – processing data visualization company

Pt 10244

Fathom looks like a great company, founded by Ben Fry, processing co-daddy – via Twitter.

Ben was the Nierenberg Chair of Design for the Carnegie Mellon School of Design. At the end of 2007, he published Visualizing Data with O’Reilly, and in 2010 wrote Getting Started with Processing with Casey Reas. Fry’s work was part of the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial in 2003 and 2006. Other pieces have appeared in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria and in the films Minority Report and The Hulk. His information graphics have also illustrated articles for the journal Nature, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Seed, and Communications of the ACM.

Gswp Lrg-1

We have Ben’s book in the store (Getting Started with Processing by Casey Reas & Ben Fry) good luck on your new company Ben and team!

Filed under: books — by adafruit, posted July 23, 2010 at 12:34 pm


NEW PRODUCT – Getting Started with Processing (book) by Casey Reas & Ben Fry

Gswp Lrg
We are now stocking Getting Started with Processing – A Quick, Hands-on Introduction By Casey Reas, Ben Fry. We get asked the following a lot from beginners “how do you learn how to program” and our answer is usually “try processing”. It’s open source, free to download, it has a massive community and the things you learn will help you with learning Arduino which is usually within the context we’re asked.

Learn computer programming the easy way with Processing, a simple language that lets you use code to create drawings, animation, and interactive graphics. Programming courses usually start with theory, but this book lets you jump right into creative and fun projects. It’s ideal for anyone who wants to learn basic programming, and serves as a simple introduction to graphics for people with some programming skills.

Written by the founders of Processing, this book takes you through the learning process one step at a time to help you grasp core programming concepts. You’ll learn how to sketch with code — creating a program with one a line of code, observing the result, and then adding to it. Join the thousands of hobbyists, students, and professionals who have discovered this free and educational community platform.

  • Quickly learn programming basics, from variables to objects
  • Understand the fundamentals of computer graphics
  • Get acquainted with the Processing software development environment
  • Create interactive graphics with easy-to-follow projects
  • Use the Arduino open source prototyping platform to control your Processing graphics

Chapter 1 Hello

  1. Sketching and Prototyping
  2. Flexibility
  3. Giants
  4. Family Tree
  5. Join In

Chapter 2 Starting to Code

  1. Your First Program
  2. Show
  3. Save
  4. Share
  5. Examples and Reference

Chapter 3 Draw

  1. Basic Shapes
  2. Drawing Order
  3. Shape Properties
  4. Color
  5. Custom Shapes
  6. Comments
  7. Robot 1: Draw

Chapter 4 Variables

  1. Making Variables
  2. Processing Variables
  3. A Little Math
  4. Repetition
  5. Robot 2: Variables

Chapter 5 Response

  1. Follow
  2. Map
  3. Click
  4. Location
  5. Type
  6. Robot 3: Response

Chapter 6 Media

  1. Images
  2. Fonts
  3. Shapes
  4. Robot 4: Media

Chapter 7 Motion

  1. Speed and Direction
  2. Tweening
  3. Random
  4. Timers
  5. Circular
  6. Translate, Rotate, Scale
  7. Robot 5: Motion

Chapter 8 Functions

  1. Function Basics
  2. Make a Function
  3. Return Values
  4. Robot 6: Functions

Chapter 9 Objects

  1. Classes and Objects
  2. Robot 7: Objects

Chapter 10 Arrays

  1. Make an Array
  2. Repetition and Arrays
  3. Arrays of Objects
  4. Robot 8: Arrays

Chapter 11 Extend

  1. 3D
  2. Image Export
  3. Hello Arduino
  4. Community

Appendix Coding Tips

  1. Functions and Parameters
  2. Color Coding
  3. Comments
  4. Uppercase and Lowercase
  5. Style
  6. Console
  7. One Step at a Time

Appendix Data Types
Appendix Order of Operations
Appendix Variable Scope
Colophon

In stock and shipping!

Filed under: books — by adafruit, posted July 8, 2010 at 6:38 pm


NOW IN STOCK – Getting Started with Arduino By Massimo Banzi

Gettingstartedwitharduino
One of our favorite books is now in stock & shipping from the Adafruit store!

Getting Started with Arduino By Massimo Banzi – This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that’s taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for Arduino projects and helps you get going on them right away. From getting organized to putting the final touches on your prototype, all the information you need is right in the book. 


Inside, you’ll learn about:

  • Interaction design and physical computing
  • The Arduino hardware and software development environment
  • Basics of electricity and electronics
  • Prototyping on a solderless breadboard
  • Drawing a schematic diagram

And more. With inexpensive hardware and open-source software components that you can download free, getting started with Arduino is a snap. To use the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED.

Join the tens of thousands of hobbyists who have discovered this incredible (and educational) platform. Written by the co-founder of the Arduino project, with illustrations by Elisa Canducci, Getting Started with Arduino gets you in on the fun!

Table of Contents

  1. Chapter 1 Introduction
  2. Intended Audience
  3. What Is Physical Computing?

Chapter 2 The Arduino Way

  1. Prototyping
  2. Tinkering
  3. Patching
  4. Circuit Bending
  5. Keyboard Hacks
  6. We Love Junk!
  7. Hacking Toys
  8. Collaboration

Chapter 3 The Arduino Platform

  1. The Arduino Hardware
  2. The Software (IDE)
  3. Installing Arduino on Your Computer
  4. Installing Drivers: Macintosh
  5. Installing Drivers: Windows
  6. Port Identification: Macintosh
  7. Port Identification: Windows

Chapter 4 Really Getting Started with Arduino

  1. Anatomy of an Interactive Device
  2. Sensors and Actuators
  3. Blinking an LED
  4. Pass Me the Parmesan
  5. Arduino Is Not for Quitters
  6. Real Tinkerers Write Comments
  7. The Code, Step by Step
  8. What We Will Be Building
  9. What Is Electricity?
  10. Using a Pushbutton to Control the LED
  11. How Does This Work?
  12. One Circuit, A Thousand Behaviours

Chapter 5 Advanced Input and Output

  1. Trying Out Other On/Off Sensors
  2. Controlling Light with PWM
  3. Use a Light Sensor Instead of the Pushbutton
  4. Analogue Input
  5. Try Other Analogue Sensors
  6. Serial Communication
  7. Driving Bigger Loads (Motors, Lamps, and the Like)
  8. Complex Sensors

Chapter 6 Talking to the Cloud

  1. Digital Output
  2. Planning
  3. Coding
  4. Assembling the Circuit
  5. Here’s How to Assemble It:

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting

  1. Understanding
  2. Testing the Board
  3. Testing Your Breadboarded Circuit
  4. Isolating Problems
  5. Problems with the IDE
  6. How to Get Help Online

Appendix The Breadboard
Appendix Reading Resistors and Capacitors

Appendix Arduino Quick Reference

  • STRUCTURE
  • SPECIAL SYMBOLS
  • CONSTANTS
  • VARIABLES
  • CONTROL STRUCTURES
  • ARITHMETIC AND FORMULAS
  • COMPARISON OPERATORS
  • BOOLEAN OPERATORS
  • COMPOUND OPERATORS
  • INPUT AND OUTPUT FUNCTIONS
  • TIME FUNCTIONS
  • MATH FUNCTIONS
  • RANDOM NUMBER FUNCTIONS
  • SERIAL COMMUNICATION

Appendix Reading Schematic Diagrams

Are you ready? You are! In stock & shipping from the Adafruit store!

Filed under: arduino, books — by adafruit, posted July 7, 2010 at 12:16 pm


Kate from National Summer Learning Day says – “inappropriate” “cease and desist”

An update, the previous post here on Adafruit was celebrating National Summer Learning day. A few moments ago we received this email:

From:   Kate Shatzkin
Email:  kshatzkin@summerlearning.org

——————————————————

Your use of our logo in the following blog post is inappropriate. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/06/21/national-summer-learning-day-10-off-our-practical-arduino-book/

Please cease and desist any use of the National Summer Learning Association logo and remove references to our organization from your site immediately.

Thank you.

Kate Shatzkin
Director of Marketing and Communications
National Summer Learning Association
800 Wyman Park Drive, Suite 110
Baltimore, MD 21211
443-604-3508

So that’s that.

Filed under: books — by adafruit, posted June 21, 2010 at 12:05 am


Adafruit now stocks Arduino & Electronics books! – PLUS 10% off today only!

4319756398 944Ea53631 B
We’re pleased to announce that we now have two books available in our store and for today only for you Sunday makers who are reading our site you can get 10% off either (or both) books. Just use the code “book10″ (no quotes) on checkout and 10% off these great Arduino and Electronics books. The 10% off deal is for today, Sunday 1/31/2010 only.


Parduinobook Med
Practical Arduino (Jon Oxer & Hugh Blemings) – 1st print
This book is best used for people who’ve gone through our tutorials and want more! Please note that the book does not come with any electronic parts or hardware. You’ll probably want an Arduino starter pack or similar so that you have the Arduino, USB cable, power adapter, wires, and a protoshield. Read more


Makeelectronics Lrg
Make: Electronics (Charles Platt) – 1st print
We checked out this book before putting it in the shop, its geared towards ultimate-beginners and teaches electronics starting from basic core of analog to some digital to microcontrollers. You’ll learn tools, prototyping soldering techniques, transistors, 555’s, etc. while completing useful projects. A nice and tidy intro! This book is a good accompaniment to learning microcontrollers/Arduino in that it fills the necessary electronics theory and background. Read more

Filed under: announce, books — by adafruit, posted January 31, 2010 at 1:50 pm


New Intuit Future of Small Business Report – Hobbypreneurs

Pt 2379
What a wild day for open source hardware and for small businesses, check out this report from Inuit (they make QuickBooks, we use it)… It’s called the “Intuit Future of Small Business Report – Hobbypreneurs”. They outline the maker movement and talk about companies like ours…

Today’s passion-driven hobbyists are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs – otherwise known as hobbypreneurs, who successfully combine their passion for a particular hobby or craft with pragmatic business smarts to create new revenue streams for themselves and their families. Intuit today released the latest findings from the Intuit Future of Small Business Report series, written by Emergent Research, that focus on the “Maker” movement and the reasons that hobbypreneurs mean business. The report includes perspectives and data from a recent Maker Faire, where hobbyists identified their motives and reasons for starting their own small business.

Here’s a direct link to the PDF. Intuit, you should really set up a booth at Maker Faire and/or do a session on book keeping using QuickBooks, folks would love it.



Practical Arduino book…

Practical-Arduino-Cover-Medium
Looks like one of the many Arduino books coming out is almost ready to hit the shelves!

Filed under: arduino, books — by adafruit, posted October 19, 2009 at 11:54 am


“Ladyada’s e is for electronics” – color book… coming soon!

Crayons
We are working on a Creative Common’d coloring book for “kids” (similar to Citizen Engineer volume 01) – the title for now is “Ladyada’s e is for electronics” – here is a list of words, one for each letter – if you can think of a better one or additional one for any letter let us know. Any suggestions you have would be helpful.

You can post your suggestions in the comments or stop by our weekly “Ask an engineer chat” Saturday night, 10pm ET 10/10/2009 (additional details below).

a – amperes
b – battery / breadboard
c – capacitor
d – diode
e – electronics
f – fpga/frequency/fet
g – ground
h – hertz
i – current/infrared/inductor
j – joule
k – kelvin
l – led
m – motor/microcontroller/multimeter/mos/mosfet the cat
n – noise/npn
o – ohm/oscilloscope/opamp
p – potentiometer/pcb
q – quartz / quantum field effect transistor
r – resistor/relay
s – switch/silcon/soldering iron
t – transistor
u – ultraviolet/usb/uart
v – voltage
w – wire/watt
x – xtal
y – yagi antenna
z – zener

Chat details!

  • Visit our new “chat” section on Adafruit at 10pm ET – 9/26/2009
  • Or visit our Ustream page
  • For old schoolers, you can use IRC, you’ll need a Ustream log/pass, check out the Ustream IRC how-tos here and here
  • We are #adafruit-industries6796 on IRC server chat1.ustream.tv
  • There will be a trivia question at the end of the night as always!
  • Lastly, if anyone can save a log we’d appreciate it
Filed under: art, books — by adafruit, posted October 10, 2009 at 1:15 pm


The Manga Guide to Electricity

Title
Hack a Day reviews The Manga Guide to Electricity… fun!

“The Manga Guide to Electricity”, part of “The Manga Guide” series by No Starch Press, is a novel approach to the old problem of getting over the initial mental block when trying to learn electronics.

We decided to compare this book to another introductory text: “Getting Started in Electronics” by [Forrest M. Mims].  [Mims]‘ book is a handwritten masterpiece of electronic literature. The writing style is friendly and concise, the examples are simple, and the drawings are excellent. It also makes sure to keep the learning process as application based as possible. Unlike other books, it doesn’t bog the reader down with math and theory that is only useful to advanced students. Since its original printing in 1983, [Mims]‘ has become the de facto standard for beginner electronic literature.

“The Manga Guide” attempts to walk the beginner through the very basics of electronics using the interactions between [Rereko], a resident of planet Electopia; [Yonosuke], a transdimensional robot cell phone; and [Hikaru Yano Sensei], an electrical engineering researcher at a Japanese university. [Rereko] is apparently very bad at electricity, and is sent to learn the basics from Hikaru over the summer by her professor.

“The Manga Guide” is a lot of fun to read. The interactions between the characters are lighthearted, and the whole setting has a sort of quirkiness about it that makes you keep reading just for the joy of it. It covers most of the basics thoroughly and with excellent examples. The art is a very well drawn, playful style of manga.

Filed under: books, random — by adafruit, posted August 5, 2009 at 11:00 pm


Open Softwear (beta)

Os Cover
From the Arduino blog

Open Softwear is the latest project at 1scale1. It is a free book (CC-NC-SA-2.5) introducing basic concepts about microcontroller programming through Arduino, and using it in when crafting interactive garments. The softwear book project is open and looks for collaborators to help with proofreading, adding new examples, translating it to other languages, or photographing your own projects for the printed version to come.

Filed under: arduino, books — by adafruit, posted July 18, 2009 at 9:06 pm


Hacking and electronics comic book – Citizen Engineer

Our video Citizen Engineer volume 01 is now a comic book/zine! Volume 01 of Citizen Engineer is available as a limited edition full color 32 page comic “SIM CARD HACKING” – the comic also comes with a SIM card reader kit! We print, trim and assemble each one on demand and they look amazing! We are doing a limited run of these, get the first printing at Adafruit Industries.

Visit citizenengineer.com for a web preview or
click here.

You can also visit the 01 section of Citizen Engineer for PDFs including high resolution downloads, or use the QR CODE in the comic!

Citizen Engineer volume 01 – SIM CARD HACKING comic is CC attribution-share alike 3.0. You are encouraged to share it and also print your own, if you’d like to support Citizen Engineer and future videos/comics get a comic/kit!



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