Next Month in Elektor

EFL: Embedded Firmware Library The modular structure dubbed EFL isn’t just another library for microcontroller programming. EFL allows your applications to be developed in a hardware independent way so you can easily port them from one board to another. Porting is not restricted to one controller manufacturer, and running EFL within embedded Linux is possible in principle. Thanks to various functions for ADC, PWM, display, TCP/IP, SD cards and many more, the library is also suitable for beginners, including C. Introduction to Python If you want to make your project user friendly, equip it with a PC connection and offer sumptuous PC software. For the latter, programmers increasingly use the Python language, which we set out to describe in a short series of articles starting next month. Python syntax results in compact and clear code, and in addition there are powerful libraries available for a wide range of applications. Importantly, however, Python is an interpreter, meaning if you change the code, the results are instantly visible on the screen. This makes Python eminently suitable for beginners. BaroStick USB sticks for measurement of air pressure being difficult to find, the author set out to design one himself. The PCB can optionally be fitted with a pressure sensor type BMP085 or BMP180 from Bosch Sensortec. The communication between the I2C bus sensor and the USB is handled by a PIC18F14K50 microcontroller. A Windows application looks after the processing and storage of measured values on the PC. For sure, the source code is available free.