computer science

Wiring (software)

Wiring (software) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wiring (software) rather than just read about it. In short: Wiring is an electronics prototyping computing platform composed of a programming language, an integrated development environment (IDE), and a single-board microcontroller. It was developed starting in 2003 by Hernando Barragán.

Key takeaways

Wiring (software) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wiring (software) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wiring (software) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wiring is an electronics prototyping computing platform composed of a programming language, an integrated development environment (IDE), and a single-board microcontroller. It was developed starting in 2003 by Hernando Barragán. It is free and open-source software released under a GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) or GNU General Public License (GPL). Barragán began the project at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. As of 2014, the project is developed at the School of Architecture and Design at the University of the Andes (Universidad de Los Andes) in Bogotá, Colombia. Wiring builds on Processing, an open project initiated by Casey Reas and Benjamin Fry, both formerly of the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab. Project experts, intermediate developers, and beginners from around the world share ideas, knowledge and their collective experience as a project community. Wiring makes it easy to create software for controlling devices attached to the electronics board to create various interactive devices. The concept of developing is to write a few lines of code, connect a few electronic components to the Wiring hardware and observe, for example, that a motion sensor controls a light when a person approaches it, write a few more lines, add another sensor, and see how this light changes when the illumination level in a room decreases. This process is called sketching with hardware; explore ideas quickly, select the more interesting ones, refine and produce prototypes in an iterative process.

Software The Wiring IDE is a cross-platform software application written in Java which is derived from the IDE made for the Processing programming language. It is designed to introduce programming and sketching with electronics to artists and designers. It includes a code editor with features such as syntax highlighting, brace matching, and automatic indenting that can compile and upload programs to the board with one click. The Wiring IDE includes a C and C++ library named Wiring, which makes common input/output operations much easier. Wiring programs are written in C++. A minimal program requires only two functions:

setup(): a function run once at the start of a program which can be used to define initial environment settings. loop(): a function called repeatedly until the board is powered off or reset. A typical first program for a developer using a microcontroller is to blink a light-emitting diode (LED) on and off. In the Wiring environment, the user might write a program like this:

When the user clicks the "Upload to Wiring hardware" button in the IDE, a copy of the code is written to a temporary file including a standard header file at the file start, and a simple main function appended. The Wiring IDE uses the GNU toolchain and AVR Libc to compile programs, and uses avrdude to upload programs to the board.

Open-source hardware and software The Wiring hardware reference designs are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and are available on the Wiring Web site. Layout and production files for the Wiring hardware are also available. The source code for the IDE and the hardware library are available and released under the GPLv2.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wiring (software)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wiring (software) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wiring (software) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wiring (software) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wiring (software)

In research: Wiring (software) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wiring (software) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wiring (software) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cross-platform software, Educational programming languages, Free computer libraries, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wiring (software) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wiring (software) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wiring (software) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wiring (software) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wiring (software) in simple terms?

Why does Wiring (software) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wiring (software)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wiring (software).