Node.js for Embedded Systems: Using Web Technologies to Build Connected Devices

How can we build bridges from the digital world of the Internet to the analog world that surrounds us? By bringing accessibility to embedded components such as sensors and microcontrollers, JavaScript and Node.js might shape the world of physical computing as they did for web browsers. This practical guide shows hardware and software engineers, makers, and web developers how to talk in JavaScript with a variety of hardware platforms. Authors Patrick Mulder and Kelsey Breseman also delve into the basics of microcontrollers, single-board computers, and other hardware components.

• Use JavaScript to program microcontrollers with Arduino and Espruino
• Prototype IoT devices with the Tessel 2 development platform
• Learn about electronic input and output components, including sensors
• Connect microcontrollers to the Internet with the Particle Photon toolchain
• Run Node.js on single-board computers such as Raspberry Pi and Intel Edison
• Talk to embedded devices with Node.js libraries such as Johnny-Five, and remotely control the devices with Bluetooth
• Use MQTT as a message broker to connect devices across networks
• Explore ways to use robots as building blocks for shared experiences

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Connecting Worlds
Chapter 2. Blink with Arduino
Chapter 3. Espruino
Chapter 4. The Tessel 2
Chapter 5. Particle Photon
Chapter 6. Single-Board Computers
Chapter 7. Components for Prototyping
Chapter 8. Node.js Libraries for Hardware
Chapter 9. Exploring Network Protocols
Chapter 10. Web Frontends for Things
Chapter 11. Entering the Cloud
Chapter 12. Making Robots with Node.js
Chapter 13. Wireless Data with Bluetooth
Chapter 14. Toward the Physical Internet
Chapter 15. From Products to Toolkits
Appendix A. Node.js
Appendix B. Early Hardware for IoT Systems