Getting Started with Adafruit Circuit Playground Express: The Multipurpose Learning and Development Board with Built-In LEDs, Sensors, and Accelerometer

Tech Educators - this is for you! As a college professor teaching non-technical students in a freshman core class, I've been looking for a platform to empower students (from our techies to our technophobes) as creators without getting bogged down by heavy overhead such as wiring, soldering, resistors, Arduino programming, or Raspberry Pi. The Circuit Playground Express (CPX) is a low cost ($25) computing platform loaded with lights, sensors (sound, light, motion, temperature), and more. This book is the perfect introduction for anyone interested in learning the CPX platform. The book covers the easy-to-advanced three major CPX programming platforms: the Make Code - Scratch-like drag-and-drop block programming that's available in a browser (hence cross-platform & also with side-by-side JavaScript creation), CircuitPython (the CPX integrates w/the free, cross-platform Mu coding environment that can graph directly from CPX sensors in real-time, and offers REPL code execution), and also the Arduino (C++-like) platform, which is more complex, but has a HUGE amount of coding examples. While the book isn't meant to be a comprehensive reference, it walks the reader through all three of these major programming platforms, with lots of fun projects. You'll learn enough to branch out on your own and leverage the vast amount of resources on the Internet. The author, Mike B, regularly creates content on the Adafruit website, as well. This book + the Circuit Playground Express is highly recommended for those seeking a first-step into making/hardware hacking/open-source hardware, and the platform is a wonderful learn-to-program tool. But know that the CPX is robust enough that you won't long for other tools anytime soon. The CPX can be integrated into other hardware w/out soldering, such as a Robotics platform, strings of programmable color "Neopixel" LED lights (which I gave students in easy-to-connect alligator-clip versions), wearables, and more. The book, when coupled with CPX hardware, is your on-ramp to STEM superpowers. Its timing was perfect for me, allowing me to prep transformative class exercises and learning examples as I tried out the CPX for the first time w/my students. It's been a huge hit. Plus, Adafruit's founder is a role-model for all, and a much-needed inspiration inspiring female STEM students.

If you have never programmed, this book will guide you through getting started. If you have previous experience, the links in the book can save hours of searching. The reason I bought this book was I started with YouTube videos, which are time-consuming and only cover one topic. This book gives you a 360 overview in a short amount of time. You still have to learn Python and / or C++ to understand why your own code fails.

So far I have read the first 4 chapters and I have the book an excellent tool for teachers new to the CPX, as it is a great guide for developing curriculum. My only complaint is the graphics are too small to actually view for quick reference. After following the book's step-by-step activities and assigning students similar projects it's no big deal to extend their learning and developing their analytical problem solving skills.

A nice and interesting descent into physical computing that spans a range of beginner programming interface options. By the end I saw the light and knew where I wanted to head next. Fun too!

This is a very good book that brings all of the information needed to work with Adafruit's Circuit Playground Express. I was most interested in Circuit Python programming and the book gives a good start. It is amazing the capability that Adafruit packs into a small single board development environment. This text helps sort it out well.

Being JUST about the CPX I thought it would go more into depth in some areas, but the majority of this book is just content from Adafruit's website and their PDF on the CPX. In particular I was hoping for more C/C++ programming content that's CPX-specific, but there's not much of that, and it contains disclaimers about the libraries still being worked on. If you really are a beginner and Adafruit's website is too dense for you, this may be of some help

Great learning book to go with the Circuit Playground Express! Easy to follow with lots of great projects and examples to really get you going.

If you use AdaFruit products, this is a wonderful way to get started using Python

Fácil de usar y bien explicado, se entiende y cubre lo que necesito

It’s a great book for learning the basics of CircuitPython on the Playground Express, however much of the information covered is readily available for free in the Learn section of Adafruit’s superb website.

Good introduction to Adafruit Playground.

Excelente livro

interesting, need the same for feather m0 express. i try to read again to understand all the content or this book