Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
conditional
A conditional statement is a piece of code that instructs the program
to take an action only if a certain condition is true. The most commonly used
conditionals are
if
and
if…else
statements.
current
The rate at which electrical energy flows past a point in a circuit. It is the
electrical equivalent of the flow rate of water in pipes. Current is measured in
amperes (A). Smaller currents are measured in milliamperes (mA).
data structure
A particular way of storing and organizing related pieces of infor-
mation. Lists and arrays are types of data structures.
debugging
The act of locating the cause of any errors in your computer program
code and fixing them
.
diode
A device that lets current flow in only one direction. A diode has two termi-
nals, called
anode
and
cathode
. Current will flow through the diode only when
positive voltage is applied to the anode, and negative voltage to the cathode.
flash memory
A type of storage, the same kind you use with a digital camera to
store all your photographs.
function
A section of code that does a specific task; once the function is created
you can use it over and over again. Python, like most programming languages,
includes some standard functions that the computer will already understand,
like the
print()
function that prints some text to the screen. You can also
write your own functions.
GUI (graphical user interface)
A way to interact with a computer that uses win-
dows, icons and a mouse pointer.
hardware
Refers to the physical elements of the computer that you can see and
touch. This includes everything inside the computer case, known as
components.
HDMI
(High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
HDMI devices are used to trans-
fer video and audio data from a source device—such as your Raspberry Pi—to
a compatible HDMI device like a digital TV or monitor.
hostname
A word that identifies a computing device on a network. The hostname
of the Raspberry Pi is
raspberrypi
.
IDE
(integrated development environment)
A software application used to write
computer code in a particular language, for example Python; also referred to as
a
programming environment
. The application has the capability to create and
edit code, as well as run or execute the code. Many IDEs also provide features
to help programmers
debug
or check for errors in their programs.
