Dung Dang

Prepare for Liftoff

This short chapter introduces the LaunchPad and its role in the omnipresence of the microcontroller in everyday’s world. The chapter also identifies the intended audience and inspires them with the goals of the book. This chapter also challenges the readers to start thinking about their dream microcontroller application and see if such creation can be materialized by the end of the journey.

Chapter 6 – Think Digitally

This chapter offers a quick logic and math lesson introducing binary and hexadecimal number systems, which are essential for computer and electrical disciplines. The concepts are immediately applied in Project 4, where we use this numbering system to control the port pin of the MSP430.

Meet the LaunchPad

This chapter introduces the LaunchPad and summarizes the contents of the LaunchPad kit. It explains the LaunchPad by drawing similarities to a human neural system consisting of the brain, the senses, and the actions. Identifying the different components and their roles help readers understand how the LaunchPad and the MSP430 microcontroller operate. This concept is reiterated in the first project showing the LaunchPad out-of-box temperature demo.

The Fellowship of the LaunchPad

This chapter introduces additional hardware components that the readers will encounter throughout the book’s projects. Readers have two options of acquiring such components: either using a convenient LaunchPad companion called Educational BoosterPack, or constructing their own circuits. For the latter option, some electrical engineering concepts including electrical components, bread-boarding, soldering, and datasheet are discussed.

Day in the Life of a Microcontroller

This chapter goes over the a few concepts that enable the LaunchPad to make decisions. Conditionals branches (if, else, switch) and conditional loops (while, for) are introduced. The logical concepts are used in Project 3 to reflect the operation flow of the LaunchPad.

The Languages of LaunchPad

This chapter further elaborates on the digital stream, and through that helps our LaunchPad become a sociable device, capable of talking to external components such as LCDs, sensors ,or other LaunchPads through various languages or serial communication protocols. Readers will be introduced to UART, SPI, I2C protocols and some of their electrical configuration. The concept of libraries is also reiterated to show how it can help abstract away from the lower level communication protocols. This enables developers to focus more on the function and actions of our LaunchPad projects.

Meet Energia—a Software Development Environment

This chapter first introduces Energia, the software development environment for LaunchPad. After showing readers how to download and install the software, the chapter walks through programming the first sketch to blink an LED on the LaunchPad. The framework of a sketch is then introduced and broken down into smaller concepts such as functions, comments, parameters, pin, etc. The chapter ends with a few challenges for the readers to blink more LEDs in their own ways.

LaunchPad is Just the Beginning

The final chapter concludes our book by recapping what readers have learned in the journey thus far. The chapter offers a few final hints at how readers can apply what they learn to take on their own LaunchPad-based projects. Equipped with the knowledge from this book, combined with the available resources highlighted at the end of the chapter, readers are encouraged to revisit and pursue their dream microcontroller creation with hopefully now their best friend, the LaunchPad.

Analog: The Infinite Shades of Gray

In this chapter, readers learn how to take real world’s analog information and translate it into digital values that the LaunchPad can process. Using the same principle, the LaunchPad can also translate the digital information back into the analog world. Readers are introduced to various analog sensors, which can convert different measurements into voltage signals, which the LaunchPad can digest. Equipped with the analog power, readers are encouraged to create several real-world applications through the chapter’s projects. Readers also learn how to debug in Energia by sending messages back to the computer.

The Ins and Outs of Digital I/O

In this chapter, readers get properly introduced to digital input and output concepts by taking a closer look at how this is done at the electrical signal level. After sitting through a miniature Electrical Engineering lecture on Ohm’s law, readers will be equipped and understand how to turn virtually anything conductive into a digital input.