120 THE OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI BEGINNER'S GUIDE
W
hen people think of ‘programming’ or ‘coding’, they’re usually – and naturally –
thinking about software. Coding can be about more than just software, though: it
can affect the real world through hardware. This is known as physical computing.
As the name suggests, physical computing is all about controlling things in the real world
with your programs: hardware, rather than software. When you set the program on your
washing machine, change the temperature on your programmable thermostat, or press a
button at traffic lights to cross the road safely, you’re using physical computing.
The Raspberry Pi is a great device for learning about physical computing thanks to one key
feature: the general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header.Chapter 6
There’s more to coding than doing things on screen
- you can also control electronic components
connected to your Pi’s GPIO pins