Getting Started with Particle Firmware Libraries

Originally published at: https://blog.particle.io/2019/12/06/firmware-libraries-101/

When working with basic sensors and actuators, for example LEDs, buttons, or potentiometers, the code needed to interface with these devices is often simple. For many devices, however, things can get complicated quickly.

Enter Particle Firmware Libraries, which encapsulate the complexity of working with devices into simple APIs that provide the information or control you need so you can focus on building your application. Instead of managing bits and bytes yourself, you can get a sensor reading, or display information on a screen using simple function calls. Particle hosts over 1000 community contributed and managed firmware libraries as a part of our platform. Chances are, if you’re working with a complex sensor or actuator, we have a library for it!

In this video, I’ll show how you can install and use firmware libraries from the Web IDE, Particle Workbench, and the CLI. The video uses sensors from our new IoT Starter Kit and Air Quality Monitoring Kit. If you’re interested in building the project I’m using in the video, check out the quick-start for complete instructions on using these and other devices.

For other videos covering the basics of working with Particle devices, check out our Particle 101 series on YouTube. If you have questions about using Particle variables, functions, or anything else in the Particle platform, visit us in the Particle Community.

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