Forget about peeling back the layers – today we’re gonna talk about adding layers.
When you find an API that looks interesting, you’ll naturally want to try it out. I’ve tested and written quite a bit about APIs, and most of the time I start off with a tool like Postman. That’s fine for playing around, but eventually you’ll want to use it in your app.
APIs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are dead simple; others are amazingly complex – even overly complicated at times. It takes time to implement it in a language – to figure out the right way to access any REST endpoint, then to figure out the right way to access a specific endpoint and get the data you’re interested in. As long as you’re doing all that work, why keep it to yourself?
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
