Gastón C. Hillar - Internet of Things with Python

At the time of writing this book, I was fortunate to work with an excellent team at Packt Publishing Ltd, whose contributions vastly improved the presentation of this book. Reshma Raman allowed me to provide her with ideas to develop this book and I jumped into the exciting project of teaching how to combine electronic components, sensors, actuators, the Intel Galileo Gen 2 board, and Python to create exciting Internet of Things projects. Divij Kotian helped me realize my vision for this book and provided many sensible suggestions regarding the text, the format, and the flow. The reader will notice his great work. It was great working with Divij in another book. I would like to thank my technical reviewers and proofreaders for their thorough reviews and insightful comments. I was able to incorporate some of the knowledge and wisdom they have gained in their many years in the software development industry. This book was possible because they gave valuable feedback.

Special thanks go to my father, Jos C. Hillar, who introduced me to electronics before I started speaking. I grew up among transistors, resistors, and soldering irons. His clear vision of the evolution of electronic components, microcontrollers, and microprocessors made it possible for me to learn everything that was necessary to build Internet of Things projects. He worked with me while testing all the sample projects included in the book.

The interaction with a huge number of experts at Intel Developer Zone made it possible for me to become extremely familiar with the Intel Galileo and Intel Edison platforms, and start running Python code on them. My visits to Intel Developer Forum 2013, 2014 and 2015 made me understand all the things that developers must know in order to successfully create modern IoT projects. Special thanks go to Kathy Farrel and Aaron Tersteeg. Many conversations with them in San Francisco, California, kicked off my idea of writing this book.

The entire process of writing a book requires a huge number of lonely hours. I wouldn't have been able to write an entire book without dedicating some time to playing soccer with my sons, Kevin and Brandon, and my nephew, Nicolas. Of course, I never won a match. However, I did score a few goals.

About the Reviewer

Navin Bhaskar has over 4 years of experience in embedded systems, having written code ranging from device drivers to firmware for smart cards. He won the Distinctive Excellence award in the mbed design challenge for his Reconfigurable Computing for Embedded System project and the third prize for his EvoMouse in the OpenWorld contest. You can find his blog at https://navinbhaskar.wordpress.com/, where you can find tutorials on IoT and related topics.

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To my sons, Kevin and Brandon, and my wife, Vanesa

Preface

Internet of Things, also known as IoT, is changing the way we live and represents one of the biggest challenges in the IT industry. Developers are creating low-cost devices that collect huge amounts of data, interact with each other, and take advantage of cloud services and cloud-based storage. Makers all over the world are working on fascinating projects that transform everyday objects into smart devices with sensors and actuators.

A coffee cup is not a simple object anymoreit can send a message to your smartwatch indicating that the liquid inside has the right temperature so that you can drink it without worrying about checking whether it is too hot. In case you move the coffee cup before you receive the message, your wearable vibrates to indicate that you don't have to drink it yet.