Reading analog data using an analog-to-digital converter

The I2CTools (used in the previous section) are very useful for debugging I²C devices on the command line, but they are not practical for use within Python, as they would be slow and require significant overhead to use. Fortunately, there are several Python libraries that provide I²C support, allowing efficient use of I²C to communicate with connected devices and provide easy operation.

We will use such a library to create our own Python module that will allow us to quickly and easily obtain data from the ADC device and use it in our programs. The module is designed in such a way that other hardware or data sources may be put in its place without impacting the remaining examples.

Getting ready

To use the I²C bus using Python 3, we will use Gordon Henderson's wiringPi2 (see http://wiringpi.com/ for more details).

The easiest way to install wiringPi2 is by using PIP for Python 3. PIP is a package manager for Python that works in a similar...