So Many Fiendishly Fun Ways to Use the Latest Arduino Boards! Fully updated throughout, this do-it-yourself guide shows you how to program and build fascinating projects with the Arduino Uno and Leonardo boards and the Arduino 1.0 development environment. "30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius," Second Edition, gets you started right away with the simplified C programming you need to know and demonstrates how to take advantage of the latest Arduino capabilities.
You'll learn how to attach an Arduino board to your computer, program it, and connect electronics to it to create your own devious devices. A bonus chapter uses the special USB keyboard/mouse-impersonation feature exclusive to the Arduino Leonardo.
"30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius," Second Edition: Features step-by-step instructions and helpful illustrations Provides full schematic and construction details for every project Covers the scientific principles behind the projects Removes the frustration factor--all required parts are listed along with sources
"Build these and other clever creations: " High-brightness Morse code translator Seasonal affective disorder light Keypad security code Pulse rate monitor Seven-segment LED double dice USB message board Oscilloscope Tune player VU meter LCD thermostat Computer-controlled fan Hypnotizer Servo-controlled laser Lie detector Magnetic door lock Infrared remote Lilypad clock Evil Genius countdown timer Keyboard prank Automatic password typer Accelerometer mouse
I have been getting more-and-more into hacking electronics. This book was a great way to learn some fascinating and fun projects to learn Arduino. It was fun, light, and playful, but very informative.
“30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius” balances theory and practice very well. It starts off assuming you don't know much about programming or hardware, but doesn't bore you if you already do. Chapter 1 starts out with a simple exercise that you can just follow the steps for. Chapter 2 circles back and gives a 10 page tour of Arduino and covers some theory. Don't worry – it is interesting theory.
The rest of the book uses projects to teach more hardware/wiring/program concepts. Each project has a schematic and circuit diagram so you can see what the breadboard looks like They even cover using a third party library.
The Appendix includes the part numbers at Farnell and Radio Shack so you can easily order what you need for each specific project.
I did notice one formatting problem: minus minus shows up as one long dash in the code. But if this is the worst problem, the book is in good shape.
--- Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.
There is a lot of great information in this book and it is very clear in its instructions. However, I didn't feel that there was enough in here that wasn't also readily available elsewhere on the internet to warrant the price of the book. Don't get me wrong, the information is valuable and presented clearly, and, for beginners, it is an excellent how-to manual. But it is the sort of thing that is maybe better suited for novices, as a gift, with their first Arduino board.