John Baichtal 
Arduino for Beginners [PDF ebook] 
Essential Skills Every Maker Needs

ARDUINO for BEGINNERS ESSENTIAL SKILLS EVERY MAKER NEEDS Loaded with full-color step-by-step illustrations! Absolutely no experience needed! Learn Arduino from the ground up, hands-on, in full color! Discover Arduino, join the DIY movement, and build an amazing spectrum of projects… limited only by your imagination! No "geekitude" needed: This full-color guide assumes you know nothing about Arduino or programming with the Arduino IDE. John Baichtal is an expert on getting newcomers up to speed with DIY hardware. First, he guides you gently up the learning curve, teaching you all you need to know about Arduino boards, basic electronics, safety, tools, soldering, and a whole lot more. Then, you walk step-by-step through projects that reveal Arduino’s incredible potential for sensing and controlling the environment-projects that inspire you to create, invent, and build the future! * Use breadboards to quickly create circuits without soldering * Create a laser/infrared trip beam to protect your home from intruders * Use Bluetooth wireless connections and XBee to build doorbells and more * Write useful, reliable Arduino programs from scratch * Use Arduino’s ultrasonic, temperature, flex, and light sensors * Build projects that react to a changing environment * Create your own plant-watering robot * Control DC motors, servos, and stepper motors * Create projects that keep track of time * Safely control high-voltage circuits * Harvest useful parts from junk electronics * Build pro-quality enclosures that fit comfortably in your home