Our code so far has been ON/OFF or HIGH/LOW using digital inputs and outputs. With today's component, we're going to explore analogue inputs which work in a different way. It's another handy command you can add to your programs to ensure it ends after a condition is met. Like all things code/Python/MicroPython, there are many ways to achieve the same result - this is just one way we wanted to introduce. The Code In the top panel ( which should be called at the moment as we haven't saved it yet), copy/paste or type in enter the following line and then select the green run icon (it looks like a ‘Play’ button) from the menu. print("This is my Pico talking")

We also import sysin this example. The only reason we add this is to allow us to use sys.exit() to end the program after the game has finished. Although the code example below is longer than some of the others we've shown you, there's nothing scary or new here (minus the notes above). We're importing, setting up pins and PWM, creating some variables then using a while loop with if statements - all things you're good at now! In the example below our function prints three lines again, but this time we include argumentsasking for the first name, middle name and surname - as we might want to change the names each time we call this function. Those arguments are used in the print lines as you can see below: def myfunction(first,middle,last): Like our larger breadboard, that central channel disconnects one side from the other, which is handy when wiring projects otherwise all of our button legs would be connected together ( and we really don't want any magic blue smoke!). We're using Windows (11) in the example projects using the Thonny IDE. Thonny is also available for MAC and Linux machines and there should be very little difference from the instructions. Chromebooks are not supported.

Construct the Circuit

Another great day of learning how to code with the Raspberry Pi Pico and MicroPython! Today you have:

Uses that delay variable to control how long the LEDs are left on and off to create a flashing sequence.Let's add our other buttons into the code and change our if statement to make it watch for any of them being pressed. You can of course be greedy and have both calendars, but there will be a little overlap between them (mostly the first few days as we introduce the Pico and some of the basics) FAQ For example, one of the LED if statements looks like this: if scorecounter < (targetscore / 100 * 33): We can use our PIR sensor to trigger our buzzer and LEDs, making our unwelcome guests jump and hopefully scare them off! The Code The code uses everything we have learned up to now with the addition of some functions from the time library to do accurate timing to the millisecond and also using the random number library to keep you guessing when the start lights will go out (clue – it will never be more than six seconds).

Below is an example of a simple function that prints 3 lines. We create a function by writing ' def' followed by a space and then the name we want to give our function (no spaces in the function name) .

An ADC is an Analogue to Digital Converter. The ADC pins on our Pico have the special ability of being able to convert an analogue input in to a digital form we can use. We have to import ADC in our code to use this feature.