Five New Elektor Programming Courses Introduce Beginners to Arduino, ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico
Five new Elektor courses help beginners take their first steps in microcontroller programming with Arduino, ESP32, and Raspberry Pi Pico. Each course combines hands-on projects, hardware kits, and online learning using C/C++ or MicroPython.
Elektor has introduced a series of five beginner-friendly programming courses aimed at readers who want to explore microcontrollers and embedded systems in a practical way. Each course combines a printed guide, an online learning environment, and a hardware kit so that users can work through exercises step by step and immediately test what they learn in real circuits.
The courses are designed for students, makers, and anyone curious about programming electronics. The emphasis is on hands-on learning: participants write code, connect sensors and actuators, and build small projects using a breadboard and a selection of components included with the course. The course on Elektor Academy contains about 90 modules covering 40 examples.
Five Programming Courses, Two Languages, Three Platforms
The new series covers three widely used development platforms — Arduino, Raspberry Pi Pico, and ESP32 — and introduces two programming approaches: C/C++ (via the Arduino environment) and MicroPython.
This course uses the familiar Arduino Uno platform. It introduces the basics of microcontroller programming in C/C++, including digital and analog I/O, PWM signals, serial communication (UART, I²C and SPI), and working with sensors, displays and actuators.
Here the Raspberry Pi Pico board is programmed using the Arduino IDE. Participants learn how to control inputs and outputs, read sensors, and communicate with peripheral devices while exploring the capabilities of the RP2040 microcontroller.
The ESP32 course focuses on programming Espressif’s popular microcontroller platform with the Arduino environment. As in the other courses, the exercises cover digital and analog signals, communication interfaces, and basic embedded-system techniques.
For those who prefer Python-style coding, the Pico can also be programmed with MicroPython. This course introduces the language and demonstrates how to work with GPIO, sensors, displays and timing functions using the Thonny development environment.
The fifth course brings MicroPython to the ESP32 platform, providing another route into embedded development with a high-level language while still interacting directly with hardware components and interfaces.
Learning by Building
All five courses follow the same structure: a concise textbook explains the concepts, a component kit provides the necessary hardware, and an accompanying online course offers simulations and downloadable project files. The aim is to make the first steps into embedded programming approachable while still providing enough depth to build working projects. Each programming example links to an online simulation where you can play around without breaking anything.
Online Simulator
The courses present some 40 practical examples that can be constructed with the included kit of parts. However, each example also links to an online simulation where you can experiment with the code and the circuit without having to build it first. A programming example running in the online simulator.
Together, the series forms a compact introduction to microcontroller programming, whether the reader prefers Arduino-style C/C++ development or the more scripting-oriented MicroPython approach. Besides the microcontroller board, each kit is supplied with all the components and peripheral modules used in the course.
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