Getting Started with Sketches - Second Edition (Tab)

An excellent start for a beginning Arduino code user. This book is about software and understanding the code for the various Arduino boards. It is NOT a "How to make a project" book. Look for other book titles by Simon Monk for hands on, DIY projects.

Younger users may find the book not to their liking but if you wish to expand into code writing and learn the very beginnings of code writing in the C language then this book is a great starting point!

This is a very straight forward and easy-to-understand book. It brought my boy into the Arduino world and had lot of fun! After some of the projects, my little boy was able to learn whole bunch of what-is-what and lots of how-to's. And he is now on his own quest of extending the fun with more complicated real life projects designed by himself!

This book took away the mystery of C programming. Many well chosen and thoroughly explained examples. The variety of C/C++ language that the Arduino is using has been made comprehensible and accessible to a "civilian" like myself. It make you to want to use many websites bulging with exciting examples and all the materials needed to put Arduinos micro-controllers to good use.

A good theory book on both the Arduino machine and C++ programming.

A good companion book for 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius, Second Edition. Someone who is interested in programming C++, will benefit from this book.

This book clearly explained the code (programming, or more properly "scripts") of the Arduino. This book is "theory heavy" and "project light".

This is a great book for getting started with Arduino. Using this and the official Arduino starter kit got me off the ground in record time with projects. I also bought the author's Next Steps book and intend to purchase his Rasperry Pi. Keep up the good work, Simon and I will keep buying your books! Thanks

Good introduction to Arduino's for someone who knew nothing about them. The programming stuff was light and I skimmed most of it, since I have been programming in "curly bracketed" languages for years.

Written in a very clear and stepped approach. I'm very happy with this purchase. I bought this as a personal challenge after working with Adafruit's custom microcontrollers and it's been a pleasant guide! Makes a good reference point as well, because of the step by step approach.

Fantastic and focused book. The author does a fantastic job explaining step-by-step the explanations leading up to why code is used. This is a concise book, so don't expect to become a programming god after reading it. You will know enough to program the Arduino, however. It also does not cover much on the electronics side at all, he has another book on electronics for that. I appreciate the focus and conciseness of this book. There are not a lot of words wasted going on about all the uses for making an LED turn on or home automation, etc. Just to the point. I saw one reviewer complaining about the debounce explanation not being good. Perhaps that was another edition of the book, but like all other explanations, the author explained this one in a gradual way that let you understand from a basic level what was going on. Fantastic book. I would say that if you have never programmed before, it may be a little difficult to follow some of the code, but that is too be expected.

An excellent reference. I have a hardware background and bought an Arduino for a small project I devised. I think it will work fine, once I figure out the syntax in C. Without this book though I would NO IDEA what to do. This book is an excellent reference for anyone fiddling with an Arduino for the first time. Highly recommended.

Sometimes a book is what you need; hardcopy that's organized. Simon knows his stuff about programming I'd say, and his approach has proven a bit more helpful to me than the Adafruit and some other online tutorials. I wish it was a bit thicker, and included the Official references full info, or his version of it.

I loved reading this book. It was very clear, short, and had great examples.

You don't have to have any prior knowledge on electronics in order to read this book. It will contain all the details you'll need to get some really nice Arduino Sketches (project) done in no time.

explains everything very well; but kind of seems to lack any creative aspect for the reader.
more along the lines of; not very interactive because you just keep opening sketches to see how there written.
otherwise great for the first time user, and can build off of the original sketches.

To start with, I am an experienced software developer and have worked with AVR microcontrollers in the past, so my information needs may be a little different than a lot of people that are just getting started with the Arduino. That said, I was looking for a quick start guide to better understand Arduino concepts and this book delivered. It was nice and concise, hitting on many facets of what the device was capable of, and gave me a good reference point to understand when this would be a good platform to build on (as opposed to just coding to the ATMega chip directly). I was able to get through the book cover-to-cover in just 2 days, and with a few internet searches to fill in some additional questions, I now feel I finally "get" what the Arduino platform is about.

The included code examples were all pertinent, concise, and clearly written. Because of my past experience, I was able to grasp what was going on in each example fairly easily just by reading through them, however those with no experience in software development (in C specifically), or electronics (like with using LCD displays) may have to do a little more research to fully understand what is going on in some of them. But this book definitely gives you a good place to get started from.

I docked the book a point for futilely trying to explain some pretty in-depth concepts in just a page or two (like how to create C++ header files, pointers and addresses in C, OOP, HTML, and HTTP request handlers to name a few). I felt the chapter on Data Storage was also a little weak, though for the same reason - it's a relatively complex design implementation that was covered in just a few pages. It was fine for my needs, and I'm actually glad it was included, but again for someone just starting out I imagine it may have gone completely over their head.

This brings up one revelation I had about Arduino: despite the hype I've always heard about programming in the "Arduino language" or Wiring, it's really just programming in C or C++, using wrapper libraries (Wiring) that happen to hide a lot of the messiness that is inherent to working with microcontrollers. Sketches are just C++ source files (albeit slightly incomplete ones since the IDE adds some additional info as part of it's compilation process). Ultimately under the hood, Arduino still uses gcc to create the binary file that gets loaded onto the microcontroller using avrdude, just like I would do if I was coding directly to the ATMega chip. The only other thing that makes an Arduino an Arduino (besides the IDE and the Wiring framework), is the use of a bootloader on the uC that allows you to load the program over USB and not need any additional hardware. If you happen to have the programming hardware, then you don't even need the on-chip bootloader code and you can just use a raw ATMega328 and load your compiled binary file directly using that.

In conclusion, I'd say this book is a good jumping off point (or jumping in as the case may be) for anyone just getting started with programming an Arduino. It provides a good overview of the Arduino platform for experienced developers that are new to Arduino, and a decent place to start for beginners as well.

I have never programmed in C before (I have written programs in AppleScript, COBOL, and BASIC). Reading this book made it possible for me to learn how to write Sketches in a matter of hours.

It's well organized, cleverly written, and accurate. I am having a lot of fun with this book.

This is really well put together and a fairly easy read. It runs you through quite a few great examples and provides you with a fun library of sketches. I was just a little disappointed when the book ended...felt like, now what? (Mr. Monk does have other books, so do not let this deter you). Enjoy!

Overall a good introductory book for Arduino. It could have been better if it had comments in the sketches to explain terms more and explain why you are doing [coding] the way you are. It talks about "and" and "or" functions but does not give examples which would have been helpful. Including a glossary would have been beneficial as well.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It helped out a lot in my introduction to the Arduino. Any questions that weren't answered in the book were easily covered by a quick Google/YouTube search. And now the book stands as a reference for quick look-ups of forgotten or rarely used features and functions. I have also purchased the next book in this line titled, Next Steps, but have only just started that book. But I am sure it will prove just as helpful.

I enjoyed the author's writing style, and the way the book is formatted. It makes both learning, and returning to the book to look stuff up, very easy.

If you're new to Arduino, or just feel like your Arduino-fu is not as strong as you'd like it to be, this book is a good great start, and well worth the money.

Great book! Really provides a solid understanding of Arduino and programming sketches. It is clear and has good examples. Lays out a good foundation for the basics of C. I got a lot out of reading this book and continue to use it for reference.

A Very Good Read for the beginning Arduino enthusiast. A good solid introduction into the Arduino's capabilities, what to look for when starting out, on-line resources, and the population explosion of kits and "Add-On's". The book covers both aspects of using the Arduino; the hardwire connections that allow you to utilize some of the potential of the unit and then also delves into the code behind the scenes that "You" program and "Upload" to make your recipes of concoctions work. The chapters start out with some easy exercises of LED's Lights and Shift Registers, onto User Input through the Serial Connections, and then into Code and Programming Endeavors, along with solid use of Input-Output options and capabilities. The book is actually and practically an excellent Primer on Learning the "C" Language. I think the foundation language for not only Object Oriented Programming through "C++", but also the root of being able to harness the Power behind Process Control Programming. And that is Exactly what he Arduino is; A Programmable Process Controller. A good easy read, (note, I have a background in C, C++), enjoyable, helpful, and informative. You will find yourself not only doing the experiments in the book, but expanding on them trying to understand and grasp the behind the scenes work that the Arduino does along with the "Chip's" that you hardwire to the Arduino's I/O Pins. The Arduino, with a few H-Bridge Chips, and Some Stepper Motors, and your on your way to 2D Engravers, 3D CNC Machines, and even 3D Printers. An On Ramp to learning what can be done with Robots, Data Streams, Twitter Tweets, and so much more....The Arduino is fascinating and Mr Monk helps provide the Exhilaration.

Simon Monk is my Favorite author. Total command of the subject at hand, and assumes no prerequisite for such complicated topic.
It is really fun to read and answer most of your anticipated question as you progress in a leisurely manner.
I have most of his books and videos....

The simple it's the hardest theaching thing. It isn't my idea see: Socrates, Aristotle, Tomas Aquinas -" God is simple " - and finally Einstein "Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler", and this simple book get it awesome.