What You'll Need
In addition to the actual parts that you'll use to build your Arduino projects, there are a few other tools and materials that you'll need on your Arduino adventures. Most importantly, you'll need a computer that is compatible with the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) (Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or newer, Windows XP or later, or a Linux distro). I will provide instructions for all operating systems when warranted.
Arduino now also has an entirely web-based editor, but this book will generally focus on the desktop IDE. All the instructions for the desktop software generally apply to the online IDE as well. The first version of this book was read by people all over the world, representing a wide range of internet speeds and reliability. To ensure that Arduino remains easily accessible to all, I'll mostly provide instructions that use the offline IDE, as constant internet access isn't always an option for everybody.
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