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not sure how this whole school things works, but i'm interested. just started messing w/ arduino and processing. have some basic bits to works with.

are there recommended prerequisite books/courses recommended for the programming know-how?

I'm not exactly sure how the public school works either. I'd love take a class like this.

alinsan,

To get started with programming, we can recommend Processing. This integrated programming environment is designed with students and beginners in mind and runs on Mac or PC. A book to consider learning Processing with is written by its creators, Casey Reas and Ben Fry, called "Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists."

In this class, we'll be using an electronics board (Arduino) that utilizes a development environment based on Processing. To get familiar with programming for electronic devices you might look into "Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers" by Tom Igoe and Dan O'Sullivan.

Anybody have additional suggestions?

lmakai35,

If you'd like to take this class, please click the "i am interested in this class" link under the class title to get on the "interested" list, which means you will receive any comments and updates posted here via email.

When enough people express interest in a class, it may go into scheduling (by The Public School Committee). This class is about to be scheduled soon.. stay tuned!

This class has been scheduled.

Dates: Saturdays, December 6th & 13th, 1-5pm
Location: 972B Chungking Road **
Limit: 10 people
Fee: $100

The class will be limited to a maximum of 10 students due to its hands-on nature. To reserve your spot, please go to: http://thepublicschool.org/119/8-bit-lab/ and click on

any plans on putting together another workshop? I am interested, but I didn't find out about this one until now, and it's full!

Since there has been additional interest in this class, we'll be scheduling another introductory workshop early next year. Watch out for further announcements in this thread or email dan at thepublicschool.org to be put on the waiting list.

Hey,

Is there a class notes section for this class like there was for the Gumstick class a while back. It would be super handy. In particular would be a list of resources for where to buy components online. Sparkfun and Liquidware seem to have some basic materials, but a list of good local suppliers would be great as well.

Phil,

Thanks for your input. We'll make it a point to put up a class webpage for the next 8-bit Lab installment.. in the meantime here is a short list of some electronics resources to check out:

http://allelectronics.com - local surplus resource!
http://www.digikey.com - huge electronics distributor, quick USPS shipping to LA
http://www.mouser.com - another fat electronics catalog, sometimes better prices than above
http://www.jameco.com - big selection somewhat focused on discounted pricing
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com - pretty wide range of surplus components
http://www.sparkfun.com - great resource for certain parts, sensors and custom PCBs

hi everybody,

Since this class never got its own class notes page, there is one available now for our more recent 8-bit Lab Intro workshop, which covered more or less the same material. Check it out at http://la.thepublicschool.org/class-notes/253/ and please don't hesitate to leave comments at the bottom of the page if you have any questions or comments!

If you're interested in continuing on with electronics, two more classes have recently been scheduled at TPS:
8-bit Lab: LEDs (http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/256/) on May 23rd
Practical Electro-Mechanisms (http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/233/) on June 20th

For those on the interest list who have taken this class and feel ready to go a step further with microprocessor circuits, a new 8-bit Lab workshop scheduled for August 23rd may be of interest: http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/1342

We'd also like to (pre-)announce a new membership program at The Public School that will allow students to take an unlimited number of classes with a $200 annual membership. For those of you who have taken a previous 8-bit lab class (or other classes at TPS), we'd like to offer the opportunity to apply a credit from those classes towards the yearly fee. If you become a member, any future 8-bit lab classes are going to cost you $10 to cover the materials cost only. If you are interested in this membership offer, please email sean at telic.info