I started a company that teaches MicroPython with an ESP8266!

[dehmoubedr7811]

Hi all,

I wanted to first say thank you to every active member for developing MicroPython and give a brief story of how I got started.

My first exposure to MicroPython was in an Internet of Things course that I took my junior year of college. Previously, I had used an Arduino with cookie cutter C for robotics projects, but it wasn’t comparable to the rewarding feeling of fully understanding your code that the MicroPython language gave me.

After falling in love with MicroPython, I began to wonder why every introduction to programming course wasn’t being taught with MicroPython and microcontrollers. The applications of using microcontrollers are so much more exciting and can engage and make students a lot more interested in programming from the start.

As a result, over the past year I started a company called JuiceMind (www.juicemind.com). Our first product, the Python essentials kit, uses an ESP8266 and a cloud based software platform to teach the fundamentals of computer science (data types, variables, conditionals, lists, functions, logic, libraries, iteration, and dictionaries) using MicroPython!

If anyone on this forum knows someone who is interested in learning programming for the first time, your support would mean the world to our business. Additionally, if anyone has any suggestions for growth, I would also love some feedback.

Thank you again to this amazing community for developing the MicroPython language. I still remember turning on an LED for the first time using MicroPython and it was one of the most rewarding feelings for me and would love to share that joy with others.


Essentials kit: https://www.juicemind.com/product/essentials/

Tutorials page: https://www.juicemind.com/learn/

[pythoncoder]

That looks like a good introduction. I would make one point, though. The bulk of real-world firmware applications use asynchronous programming, and I think this should be included in any course. Most applications need to do multiple things concurrently. You mention LED flashing. How about flashing N LED's all at different rates?

This would need a little adaptation for the ESP8266 - and the addition of some LED's - but it's a starting point.

Code: Select all

import pyb
import uasyncio as asyncio

async def toggle(objLED, time_ms):
    while True:
        await asyncio.sleep_ms(time_ms)
        objLED.toggle()

async def main(duration):
    print("Flash LED's for {} seconds".format(duration))
    leds = [pyb.LED(x) for x in range(1,4)]  # Initialise three on board LED's
    for x, led in enumerate(leds):  # Create a task for each LED
        t = int((0.2 + x/2) * 1000)
        asyncio.create_task(toggle(leds[x], t))
    await(asyncio.sleep(duration))

asyncio.run(main(10))

You might be interested in my uasyncio tutorial.

[bitninja]

Very Nice!
I have been contemplating a similar endeavor for a while now so it's nice to see something come to fruition.

Congratulations and the best of luck to you!

[dehmoubedr7811]

pythoncoder - this is an awesome documentation. Thanks for putting it together!

bitninja - Thank you so much. That means a lot!