To get the most out of this book

To get the most out of this book, I will assume the following:

• You have purchased, or will purchase, a Raspberry Pi Computer, preferably a 2015 model or newer.
• You have had some exposure to the Python programming language, or are eager to learn it.
• You have a basic familiarity with electronic components and how to use a breadboard.
• You have purchased, or are willing to purchase, basic electronic components.

In terms of hardware requirements, you will need at least the following:

• A Raspberry Pi Model 3 (2015 model or newer)
• A USB power supply
• A computer monitor
• A USB keyboard
• A USB mouse
• A microSD RAM card
• A breadboard and breadboard jumpers

Additional pieces of hardware will be introduced at the beginning of every chapter.

In terms of software requirements, you will require the Raspberry Pi NOOBS image (https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/). Additional software, accounts, and Python packages will be presented along the way. Any piece of software, web service, or Python package we use in this book is free of charge.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packt.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packt.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

1. Log in or register at www.packt.com.
2. Select the SUPPORT tab.
3. Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
4. Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:

• WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
• Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
• 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux

The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Internet-of-Things-Programming-Projects. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789134803_ColorImages.pdf.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "In order to access Python 3, we type the python3 command in a Terminal window."

A block of code is set as follows:

wind_dir_str_len = 2
if currentWeather.getWindSpeed()[-2:-1] == ' ':
    wind_dir_str_len = 1

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

pip3 install weather-api

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see on screen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "From the View menu, select Object inspector and Variables."

Warnings or important notes appear like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.