Raspberry Pi 4

2020 Beginners Programming Guide

A Complete 2020 Manual to get started with Raspberry pi 4
Projects

Ted Humphrey
 Copyright©2020 Ted Humphrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility
for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

© 2020 by Ted Humphrey
 Contents
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO RASPBERRY PI 4
The Raspberry Generations
Operating systems used by the Raspberry pi
Installing Raspbian on Raspberry pi 4 using NOOBS
Installing Raspberry on the Raspberry pi 4 by writing a disc image
Getting Familiar with the Raspberry Pi 4
Exploring the Raspbian desktop
Using your Raspberry Pi 4
Browsing the internet with the Raspberry pi 4: The chromium web browser
Saving your files on the Raspberry pi: The File Manager
Writing on the Raspberry Pi 4: The LibreOffice Productivity Suite
The Recommended Software tools
The Raspberry pi configuration tools
Shutting down
CHAPTER TWO
UNDERSTANDING THE RASPBERRY COMMAND LINE
Command for listing and accessing files
Installing software with the command line
Personalizing the command lines
Command lines for managing removable disc
Command line for network
Command lines to stop an ongoing process
Command line to put a program in background
Accessing the Raspberry pi remotely from other PCs using SSH
CHAPTER THREE
THE RASPBERRY PROJECTS: BUILDING WITH THE Pi
The Mathematica Telescope
Poopi and piter’s paludarium project
Digital Zoetrope
Internet of Things Chessboard
Naturebytes wildlife cam kit
LIFEBOX
JOYTONE
PiScan
Watch iPlayer on Raspberry pi
Shooting in Slo-Mo with the Raspberry pi camera module
CHAPTER FOUR
PYTHON PROGRAMMING FOR RASPBERRY
Understanding the python environment
The IDLE development environment shell
Running a python script in IDLE
Creating a python script in IDLE
Understanding the Python Basics
Producing python script output
Output control with Escape sequences
Writing comments in scripts
Understanding the python variable
Assigning value to a variable
Formatting variable and string output
Assigning long string values to variables
Assigning numeric values to variables
Reassigning a variable
Python data type
Allowing python script input
Working with numbers and performing calculations in the Raspberry python script
Python Math operators
Order of operation
Using variables in calculation
Creating complex numbers in python
Using the NumPy Math Libraries
Creating NumPy Arrays
Learning about Loop in python
Creating and using Tuple in programming
Creating and using lists in python
CHAPTER FIVE
USING PROGRAMMING IN THE RASPBERRY PI
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) Programming
The tkinter package
Exploring the tkinter widget
Python Web Programming
Running a web server on your pi
CHAPTER SIX
Basic pi/python projects
Building your pi projects with python
ABOUT AUTHOR
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO RASPBERRY PI 4
How easier can it be to have a computer as small as the size of a credit card
doing for us what most bigger and sophisticated computers can do while
utilizing a lower power unit? The Raspberry pi is just like a computer where
users can get to design and customize its interface for many user-defined
functions and projects. Much like your computer, the Raspberry pi requires
an operating system that enables it to carry out a number of tasks just like
your everyday computers. The Raspberry pi models earlier designed were
not intended to gain much popularity, but the little single-board computers
were functioning and were accepted by programmers, students and
collaborators all over the world. The popularity was born accredited to the
fact that the Raspberry pi series were among the first computers of its kind
to allow users to design what they want to use it for- ranging from
programming, robotics, creating other physical devices, browse the web and
play a number of sophisticated video games amidst other interesting uses.
One thing about the Raspberry pi, just like any other computer, is that much
hardware can be attached to it through the General Purpose Input-Output
Pins (GPIO) attached to the side of the Raspberry pi. But unlike most
computers, the hardware attached to the Raspberry pi can be used for a
number of different purposes such as temperature control hardware, LEDs,
switches and others such as robots, motion detection gadgets, drones etc.
NASA once used the Raspberry pi 3, one of the generations of Raspberry
pi, to power their open source Rover – an indication that the Raspberry
computers are applicable in space exploration.
The first model of the Raspberry pi, which is the Raspberry pi Model B
launched in 2012, came with lesser features when compared to other
models released afterwards. A good example is the Raspberry pi zero series
which is a small and improved version of the much bigger sized Raspberry
pi. The pi zero series came with better features such as the many USB ports
and low power usage. Moving from the Raspberry zero series to the latest
pi 4, the Raspberry pi series were observed to have a common feature
which is that software for the pi zero can work with that of pi 4 – only that
it is slower.
The Raspberry Generations
Since 2012, when the first model of the Raspberry pi was released, the
Raspberry inventors did not stop giving their users many extraordinary
improvements, which are usually incorporated into the newest versions of
the Raspberry. But the common thing about all the versions of Raspberry
released till date is that they all feature; system on a chip (SoC) together
with a powerfully integrated ARM -packed CPU and the on-chip graphics
processing unit (GPU). The system on a chip (SoC) was designed by the
Broadcom Company, which is the leading designer of multi-functional
semiconductor devices and other software. The ARM is a reduced
instruction set computing architecture (RISC) primarily made for computer
processors. The on-chip graphics processing unit (GPU) is responsible,
primarily, for image creation ability of the Raspberry pi. There is a secured
digital ( SD) card which stores the Raspberry’s operating system and all of
its program memory.
- Raspberry pi Model B: this is the first model of the Raspberry
series that came into the market in 2012. The Raspberry pi model
B+, featuring an improved board design compared to the pi model B
was released into the market in 2014.
- Raspberry pi 2: housed a 900 MHz ARM processor with 1 GiB
RAM. The GiB (gibibyte) here differs slightly from GB (gigabyte).
The pi 2 came into the market in February 2015. The earlier pi 2
model, which was the V1.1 model of the Raspberry Pi 2, utilized a
Broadcom BCM2836 SoC with a 900 MHz 32-bit, ARM processor,
with and a 256 KiB shared L2 cache. The later model, which was the
Raspberry Pi 2 V1.2, was advanced to a Broadcom BCM2837 SoC
featuring a 1.2 GHz 64-bit ARM A53 processor, the same SoC which
is used on the Raspberry Pi 3, but underclocked (by default) to the
exact 900 MHz CPU clock speed as the V1.1. The BCM2836 SoC
went defunct as of late 2016.
- The Raspberry pi zero: The Raspberry pi zero was not exactly
bigger as compared to the Raspberry pi 2 series. The pi zero also
featured less input and output capabilities when compared with the
Raspberry pi 2 series. The pi zero was released in November 2015.
By February 2017, the company launched the pi zero W was released
into the market, which featured a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth mode. About
10 months later, the pi zero WH was released into the market
featuring a GPIO header. Both the Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W
feature 512 MiB of RAM. The pi zero, lacking any Ethernet circuit, is
usually connected using an external Wi-Fi Adapter. A thorough look
at the Pi Zero observed that the USB port is connected straight to the
SoC, and that it deploys a micro USB (OTG) port. When compared to
most other pi versions, the 40 pin GPIO connector is not available on
the Pi Zero but the latter Pi Zero WH solves this.
- Raspberry pi 3 model B and B+: The pi 3 model B was launched
into the market in February 2016. It featured a 1.2GHz 64 bit quad-
core processor, a superb on-board 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB
boot modes. In 2018, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ was released
which featured a faster 1.4 GHz processor and an Ethernet or 2.4 /
5 GHz dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi (100 Mbit/s). It also came with
a Power over Ethernet (PoE) (with the add-on Power over Ethernet
HAT), USB boot and network boot (which makes an SD card a
defunct feature in the pi model b+). The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
utilizes a Broadcom BCM2837 SoC featuring a 1.2 GHz 64-bit ARM
A53 processor, with a 512 KiB shared L2 cache. The Model A+ and
B+ are both 1.4 GHz ARM processors.
 - Raspberry pi 4 model B: Released in the first half of 2019
featuring a 1.2GHz 64 bit quad-core processor, a superb on-
board 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, two USB 2.0 ports and two USB
3.0 ports, and a Micro HDMI port supporting a dual monitor display
showing a 4k resolution. The Raspberry Pi 4 utilizes a Broadcom
BCM2711 SoC featuring a 1.5 GHz 64-bit ARM A72 processor, with
a 1MiB shared L2 cache. The Raspberry Pi 4 is available with 2, 4 or
8 GiB of RAM. The pi 4 model B initially came with a 1GiB model
which became available on the launching day in June 2019 but the
1GiB model was discontinued in March 2020, and they later
introduced the 8 GiB model in the month of May 2020.

Operating systems used by the Raspberry pi

The Raspberry Company devised an operating system for the Raspberry pi
called the Raspberry pi OS , referred previously as Raspbian and a 32-bit
Linux OS primarily for download. There are also some third parties OS
such as Ubuntu, Windows 10 IoT Core, RISC OS and OPENELEC. The
Raspberry pi is at the core of Python and Scratch which serve as the major
programming language. The various operating systems being used by the
Raspberry pi 4 are usually installed on an SD card or a micro SD. The SD
card is usually located at the bottom of the board.
Installing Raspbian on Raspberry pi 4 using NOOBS
Raspbian is the most common operating system, which is installable on all
Raspberry pi models. The Raspbian operating system provides your
Raspberry pi the feeling of a personal computer including programming
interface, wide array of browsers and many other computer programs. To
install Raspbian on the Raspberry pi, you need an application called
NOOBS (New Out of the Box Software). The NOOBS is an OS installation
manager that makes it especially very easy to install Raspbian Operating
System. There are some Micro SD cards that come loaded with NOOBS
and you only have to fit it inside the Raspberry to begin. NOOBS allows
Raspberry beginners to choose their preferred operating system and then
install it on the Raspberry pi. You will need your Raspberry pi 4, a
computer that has an SD card slot and an SD card of about 8GB to get
started. Follow these guides to install NOOBS on the Raspberry pi;
- Downloading and extracting NOOBS: A computer is required to
copy NOOBS onto an SD card. Therefore, the first thing you must do is
to get NOOBS on your computer

Navigate with your preferred web browser to the NOOBS

download page at
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/ .
From the NOOBS download page, you will be prompted to
select between downloading NOOBS and NOOBS lite.
Note that you can choose any of the two, but it is advisable
to select the NOOBS option because you will be able to
install the OS without needing internet access. While an
internet access is required to install the NOOBS lite.
Tap on download NOOBS as a zip file.
 The NOOBS file will then be downloaded as a zip file on
your computer. Go to the location where the NOOBS file
has been stored on your computer and extract the file.
- Put your SD card into the right slot inside your computer. But you
will need to format the SD card once it gets inside the computer. if
you don’t have an SD card formatting tool on your computer,
download and install an SD card formatting tool (SD memory card
formatter) from
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_windows/ . Let the
“Format size adjustment” option be set to “on.” Then erase it in FAT
(or MS-DOS) format.
 - Copy the extracted NOOBS file inside the SD card you have
formatted. If the NOOBS file has been saved inside a folder, just open
the folder and copy the extracted NOOBS file from the folder then
paste it inside the formatted SD card.
- Insert the SD (which contains the NOOBS file) into the Raspberry
pi 4.
- Once the Raspberry pi 4 boots to NOOBS, a welcome page will be
prompted asking you to choose the specific operating system that you
will like to install on the Raspberry pi 4.
- Select Raspbian from the list of operating systems displayed and
select install to start the installation process.
- After successful installation, your Raspberry pi 4 will boot to the
Raspberry pi 4 operating system.
Installing Raspberry on the Raspberry pi 4 by writing a disc
image
- Navigate your favorite web browser on your computer to download
the Raspbian disc image from the Raspbian website at https://www.
raspberrypi .org/downloads/ raspberry-pi-os/ .
- From the website, choose the “download as zip” option to start
downloading the Raspbin disc image.

- After the Zip file has been downloaded successfully, go to the

location where the file has been installed on your computer to extract
the file. For Window users, you might want to use the 7-Zip software
to unzip the Raspbian file. You can get the 7-Zip software at
https://www.7-zip.org/ . If you are using Mac, use The Unarchiver
to unzip the Raspbian file. You can get The Unarchiver at
https://theunarchiver.com/ .
- After successfully extracting the file, simply write the Raspbian disc
image to your micro SD card which has already been inserted into the
computer. To write the disc image to your micro SD card, you need to
get the Win32 Disk Imager. Go to
https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ to get the Win32
Disk Imager.
- Once the Disk Imager has been installed on your computer, launch
the software. The Disk Imager will prompt you to select the
destination for the unzipped Raspbian file you are writing into the
SD card. Simply select the micro SD card as a destination. Tap on the
double check and then click the button to rewrite the disk image.
 - Insert the micro SD card (which contains the Raspbian disc image
file) into your Raspberry pi 4.
- The Raspbian OS will now boot to the Raspberry desktop. The
default username is pi and the password is raspberry.
The amounts of time your Raspberry OS will take to complete installation
depend on the speed of the Micro SD card you are using. As the operating
system is installed, progress is shown in a bar along the bottom of the
window; you’ll see a slide show highlighting some of its key features. It’s
important that the installation isn’t interrupted as this has a high likelihood
of damaging the software, a process known as data corruption. Do not
remove the micro SD card or unplug the power cable while the operating
system is being installed; if something does happen to interrupt the
installation, unplug the Pi from its power supply, then hold down the
SHIFT key on the keyboard as you connect the Raspberry Pi backup to its
power supply to bring the NOOBS menu back up. This is known as
recovery mode, and is a great way to restore a Pi whose software has been
corrupted to working order again. It also allows you to enter the NOOBS
menu after a successful installation, to reinstall the operating system, or
install one of the other operating systems.
Getting Familiar with the Raspberry Pi 4
Configuring the Raspberry pi 4
After successful installation of the Raspbian OS into the Raspberry pi 4,
you will get a welcome window welcoming you to the Raspberry desktop

You can decide to close the welcome page above by tapping on the cancel
tab. But you need to address some basic information so that features of the
Raspberry such as wireless network will work. When you tap the next tab
in the image above, you will be taken to a window where you can select
your country, time zone and language. You will also see a dropdown where
you will have access to customize the keyboard layout you want Raspbian
to be using. You can customize the Raspbian desktops and programs to start
showing in English, tap on the “use English language” checkbox to allow
you set English language as your preferred language and then tap Next to
finish.

Remember that your default Raspberry password is “raspberry” which is

not secured enough, so a screen will be prompted asking you to change this
password. Endeavor to input a more secure password that you will be able
to remember. Tap the next button when you are okay with the password.

Another screen will be prompted that will enable you to choose your
preferred Wi-Fi network from a list. Check the list of networks, find your
network’s name and tap on it, then choose Next . If your chosen wireless
network is secure (which is actually expected), you will be prompted to
enter its password, which is its pre-shared key; check for the pre-shared key
which is usually inscribed on a card with the router or on the bottom of the
router. Tap Next to connect to the network. If you prefer not to connect to a
wireless network, simply tap Skip . Note that Built-in wireless networking
is only available on the Raspberry pi 3, pi 4, and pi Zero W families. If you
want to use another model of Raspberry Pi with a wireless network, you
will need a USB Wi-Fi adapter.
Another screen that will be displayed will enable you to check for updates
and then install those updates for Raspbian OS. The Raspbian OS is
designed to update itself on a regular basis which enables it to fix bugs,
modify existing updates to add new features, and also improve software
performance. Tap Next to install these updates, otherwise, click Skip. You
will need to be patient while downloading the updates as the downloading
process might take a little time to be completed. When the updates have
been completely installed, a window will pop up telling you that ‘System is
up to date’; tap the OK button to proceed.

The final screen will be prompted where you will be able to reboot the
Raspberry pi. Any change you made will only be effective when you restart
the Raspberry Pi, a process known as rebooting. If you are asked to reboot,
select the Reboot button and your Raspberry Pi will restart.

Exploring the Raspbian desktop

The graphical interface of the Raspbian installed on the Raspberry pi is
called “Raspbian with Raspberry pi Desktop.” The entire Raspbian desktop
is taken up by the wallpaper which will serve as the background for all the
programs and software run on the Raspberry pi. The taskbar is located at
the top section of the desktop which enables you to load any program you
want to run. The program you are currently running (which is usually
shown on the wallpaper) will be displayed at the top left section of the
taskbar. Let us say you are deleting an item; the action will be displayed
over the desktop background (wallpaper) and you will see the “deleting an
item at the top left section of the taskbar).
The extreme right hand section of the menu bar contains the system tray
which might contain the following; a media eject symbol ( you will see
this symbol only if you insert a removable storage inside the Raspberry pi.
If you want to remove the storage, simply tap on this symbol for safe
removal), a clock situated at the far right hand section of the system tray
(you can tap on the clock symbol to access the calendar), the speaker icon (
you will be able to either increase or reduce the Raspberry pi volume when
you left click on this icon with your mouse), a Network icon ( The signal
strength will be shown as series of bars when you are connected to the
Raspberry pi using a wireless connection. But if you are connected with the
pi with a wired connection, you will be able to see two arrows; one pointing
up and the other arrow pointing downward. When you tap on the network
symbol, you will be able to access the list of wireless networks within your
location) and a Bluetooth icon which will enable you to connect to any
Bluetooth device that is within range).
The left navigation pane of the menu bar contains the Launcher which
contains all the programs that have been installed alongside with Raspbian
(remember that Raspbian is an operating system and some programs come
by default when you installed the OS just like you will have some programs
installed automatically with your Windows 10). You will be able to access
most of these installed programs as a shortcut while a handful of them are
hidden and you can bring them to view by tapping on the Raspberry symbol
located at the far left section of the menu bar.

When you tap on the Raspberry icon at the extreme left of the menu bar,
you will be prompted with a list of categories containing some programs.
For instance, when you select the programming category, you will be able
to access some software which will help you to write your own program as
you desire while the internet category contains some list of programs that
will enable you to access the internet.
Using your Raspberry Pi 4
Browsing the internet with the Raspberry pi 4: The chromium
web browser
The chromium web browser on the pi 4 has the interface much like the
regular chrome browser on your desktop computers or PCs. You can start
the chromium web browser by tapping on the Raspberry icon at the top left
section of the menu bar to access the internet category. Tap the internet
category and select Chromium Web Browser to begin. When you launch
the chromium web browser, you will get a welcome with “welcome to
chromium.” The Chromium web browser is not exactly different from the
normal chrome browser. With the Chromium browser, you will be able to
access the internet, download and install other software, play games and
read from the media. To get more from the Chromium web browser, try and
maximize the browser so that it can take up the full desktop space. To do
this, locate the three icons at the top section of your chromium title bar. The
up-arrow symbol (which is found at the middle of the three icons) will help
you to maximize the screen to take up the whole desktop space. The
minimize button (down-arrow icon) is found to the left of the up-arrow icon
(maximize button) and will enable you to hide the chromium web browser’s
screen to top of the task bar where you can always restore it when needed.
The cross icon (at the left side of the maximize button) will close the
chromium web browser’s window if you tap it. You are not advised to close
the chromium web browser interface when you still have some important
tasks that you have not saved. When you first load the chromium web
browser, you might see some tabs located along the top of the chromium
window. You will be able to navigate to a different tab by tapping on the tab
you want to switch to. You can also close any tab by tapping the cross
symbol located at the right edge of the tab; this will not close the whole
chromium window. You can open a new tab, which you can use to access
many websites on the chromium web browser without necessarily opening
multiple chromium web apps, simply tap on the tab button located at the
right of the last tab in the list, or alternatively hold down the CTRL key on
your keyboard and press the letter T key before releasing the CTRL key .
When you are done navigating the Chromium web browser, tap the close
button at the top-right of the chromium window.

Saving your files on the Raspberry pi: The File Manager

Much like your everyday desktop computer, the Raspberry pi 4 can save
your files so that you can access them at a later time. You can store your
videos, audios, images or any other files you downloaded from the
chromium web browser inside the pi’s file manager. Every file you saved is
automatically stored in the home directory. To access the home directory,
select the Raspberry icon located at the extreme left of the task bar. Scroll
down and select Accessories and then tap on File manager. The file
manager will enable you to access all your folders and their files located
inside the pi’ SD card. You can also access files on a flash drive when you
connect it to the Raspberry pi. These files will automatically enter into the
home directory which houses a number of other sub-directories. These sub-
directories include; Desktop, documents, downloads, MagPi, Music,
Pictures, public and videos. For instance, your music files are stored
inside the Music subdirectory while the images are stored in the Pictures
sub-directory. The File Manager section is divided into two separate panes:
the left pane displays the directories on the Raspberry Pi, while the right
navigation pane displays the files and subdirectories of the directory you
selected at the left pane. If you insert a removable storage device, such as a
flash drive, inside the Raspberry Pi’s USB port, a window will show up
requesting if you would like to open the file in the File Manager; tap OK
and you will be able to access the device’s files and directories.

You can conveniently copy your files from a removable disk, such as a flash
drive, into the pi’s SD card. You can also copy files from the SD card into a
removable device (flash drive). To get started, open your home directory
(on the pi) and the removable item (flash drive) separately. From your pi’s
directory, navigate to the particular files or folders that you want to copy
and then right click on the files or folders and tap copy or press CTRL C
(if there are many files or folders that you want to copy selectively, simply
tap on one of the folders and then scroll down while holding the CTRL key
to select and highlight other folders or files). Open the second window,
which is the removable device’s window, and paste the copied file by right-
clicking and then choose copy. If you select the move option in the SD
card, this will delete the file from the SD card and the file will be available
anywhere you move it to on the removable device. You can alternatively
use the drag and drop method. To use the drag and drop method, tap on the
file or folder that you want to drag to another location inside the removable
item, and then open the removable item’s window to drop the file or folder
by taking your hand off the mouse. The shortcut for copy is CTRL + C.
You can paste a file by tapping the CTRL button + V. When you tap CTRL
+ X, you are about to cut the file you have highlighted. To get more from
the File manager window, try and maximize the platform so that it can take
up the full desktop space. To do this, locate the three icons at the top section
of your file bar. The up-arrow symbol (which is found at the middle of the
three icons) will help you to maximize the screen to take up the whole
desktop space. The minimize button (down-arrow icon) is found to the left
of the up-arrow icon (maximize button) and will enable you to hide the file
manager screen to the top of the task bar where you can always restore it
when needed. The cross icon (at the left side of the maximize button) will
close the file manager’s window if you tap it. You are not advised to close
the chromium file manger’s interface when you still have some important
files that you have not saved or copied. When you are done navigating
through the file manager, you can tap the close symbol located at the top-
left of the file manager’s window. If you have more than one file manager
window open, close them one by one. If you attached a removable storage
device to your Pi, eject the device by tapping the eject icon at the top right
section of the screen, find the removable item on the list, and then select it
before unplugging the device from the Raspberry pi.
Writing on the Raspberry Pi 4: The LibreOffice Productivity
Suite
The LibreOffice writer does the same job that the Microsoft office suite
(MS word) on your desktop computer will do. To have access to the
LibreOffice Suite, navigate to the pi’s menu at the left section and then
select Office and from the Office dropdown, tap on the LibreOffice writer.
If the LibreOffice writer has not been installed automatically with the
Raspbian operating system, you can install it on your own by running a
simple command “sudo apt install libreoffice.” You will need a disc space
of about 649MB to fully install and enjoy the LibreOffice writer. The writer
is the word processor that comes with the LibreOffice. The writer is very
identical to the MS word and it is used essentially for creating and editing
word documents. It is easy to open the LibreOffice software with the
command below;

If you specify a specific file name that you want to open in the
[FILENAME], you will be able to open that file.
With the LibreOffice writer, you can carry out most tasks you do with your
MS word app. You can format your document by changing the font size,
font style, font color and add a powerful effect to give your texts some nice
appeals. While writing with the LibreOffice writer, you can be sure of
grammar correction because every misspell word is highlighted in red so
that you can correct it. You can also save any file right from the LibreOffice
writer by pressing CTRL + S.
The LibreOffice suite also features LibreOffice Calc which is just like
Microsoft's spreadsheet software. The Calc software can be used to analyze
both large and small data samples just like Microsoft Excel. It is easy to
open the LibreOffice Calc software with the command below;
If you specify a specific file name that you want to open in the
[FILENAME], you will be able to open that file.
There is another software that comes with the LibreOffice suite is the
LibreOffice Impress which is just like the Microsoft PowerPoint app. The
LibreOffice Impress is used specifically to create a PowerPoint
presentation. It is easy to open the LibreOffice Calc software with the
command below;

If you specify a specific file name that you want to open in the
[FILENAME], you will be able to open that file.
The LibreOffice draw is a LibreOffiec software for making and editing
pictures and diagrams.
The Recommended Software tools
It is understandable that the Raspbian OS comes with a lot of installed
software, but you can still install much other compatible software. A list of
some of the best software that you can install in your Raspberry pi can be
accessed in the Recommended Software tool. The Recommended Software
tool requires a strong connection to the internet for full access. After
successfully connecting your pi to the internet, simply tap on the Raspberry
menu icon at the left section of the toolbar, and select Preferences. Tap on
Recommended Software to get started. The Recommended tool will be
prompted and you can start downloading information about software that is
available. After some time, the list of compatible and available software
will show up. The tool will load, and you can then begin downloading
information about available software. After a few seconds, a list of
compatible software packages will appear. These tools, just like the
software in the raspberry menu, are systematically arranged into various
categories. Tap on a category in the pane on the left to access software from
that category, or choose All Programs to see all the software. In the “All
programs” section, if you see software that has a tick beside it, it shows
that the app has already been installed. If there is no tick beside the
software, you can tick it for installation. You can as well uninstall any
software that has already been installed by unmarking the tick beside it.
After selecting the list of software that you either want to install or
uninstall, proceed by tapping on the “OK” button to start installing or
uninstalling as the case may be.

The Raspberry pi configuration tools

The Raspberry pi configuration tools enable you to change or modify
settings in the Raspbian OS. To access the Raspberry configuration tools,
simply tap on the Raspberry menu icon at the left section of the toolbar, and
select Preferences. Tap on Raspberry pi configuration to get started. The
Software tool has four tabs which carry out different functions and settings.
These include;
- System tools: This enables you to set the host name for your pi,
change your account password and other settings. You don’t really
need to change many things here.
- Interface tab: You can add new hardware, like the Raspberry pi
camera module, by changing some settings on this tab. You can also
change some of the settings in this tab if the manufacturer advised it.
You can set your SSH, which gives a ‘Secure Shell’ and enables you
log into your Raspberry Pi from another computer on your network
using an SSH client. You can as well set the VNC, which gives a
‘Virtual Network Computer’ and allows you to see and control your
Raspbian desktop from a different computer on your network using a
VNC client; and the Remote GPIO, which allows you to use the Pi’s
GPIO pins from another computer on your network.
- Performance tab: You can boost the performance of the Raspberry
pi and also determine the amount the pi’s Graphic processing unit will
consume.
- Localization tab: Change the locale which determines how
language is set in the Raspberry pi and how numbers are being
displayed. You can as well change your time zone and the layout of
your keyboard in this tab.
Shutting down
You can shut down the pi by tapping on the Raspberry symbol at the top left
side of the menu bar. The shutdown window will be prompted allowing you
to choose between shutdowns, logout and reboot. The shutdown option will
close all the software you have opened and shutdown the Raspberry pi. It is
recommended that you save all the files you are working on before you
shutdown the operating system.
 CHAPTER TWO
UNDERSTANDING THE RASPBERRY
COMMAND LINE
The command line is a simple way of passing information from users to the
computers. It provides a unique way of breaking down complex tasks and
making even the simple ones simpler. The Raspbian operating system on
the Raspberry pi 4 anchors the various functions, including the command
interface on the little computer. With the command line, you don’t need to
press any icon or navigate extended menus on your pi. All that you
basically need to do is to understand the task you want to carry out with its
command. You can access the command line using a program referred to as
a terminal emulator or Shell or Bash. The command lines may be a little bit
stressful to learn, but once learned they give you a quick way of accessing
and navigating your files and programs. The command line is called
Terminal and you can find it under Accessories in the menu. Once you enter
the terminal, you will be taken to the interface where you can start entering
your commands for onward execution.

Command for listing and accessing files

You will be able to access and navigate files wherever they are on the
Raspberry pi by specifying their paths. This is done by issuing a simple
command to help locate those files. The path (folder hierarchy) is
conquered by ls / – which is specifying the path. You can enter pwd (
present working directory) to know your current location. Don’t forget the
ls / – whenever you are entering such command. The home directory for
any user that is already logged in will be specified as ls ~. Note that anytime
you enter a command, you need to press the return or enter key to let the
bash understand that you have issued a command.
To create a directory, you will need to first confirm that you are in your
home directory. Simply enter pwd to check if you are in the home directory.
To create a new directory, type mkdir tempfolder and have a look with ls .
Installing software with the command line
You can deploy the apt command to update your pi’s list of installable
software. Begin by issuing the command like: apt‑get update . When you
issue this command as a pi user, you will be greeted with an error message.
This is because the process of changing system software on a GNU/Linux
(or any type of UNIX) operator is a job restricted to user with
administrative permissions: like the admin, also known as root. You can
bypass this restriction by using the sudo command. The Sudo command
will actually offer you a perfect choice of permissions to have access to
portions of the admin user’s powers. However, inside the Raspberry Pi, the
Raspbian OS assumes that the default user is someone that just wants to get
some things done, and sudo in front of a command will verily allow you to
do much things. Entering the two commands below will allow you to
update the software installed on Raspbian;

You can exercise patience for one command to end before prompting the
second one or you can run both at a time by;

The && in the command above is a Boolean (logical) AND, which implies
that if the first command fails to run well, the second command will not be
executed. The reason is because for a logical AND to be true, both of its
conditions must be essentially true. It is always worth running the update
command before installing new software, too – minor updates are made
even in stable distributions such as Raspbian, to address any issues. For
instance, to install a game called bsd, just prompt the command below;

You can search a list of apps or games by entering a simple command;

apt‑cache search games . You can as well examine a game or an app with
the command; apt-cache show bsdgames .
Any software, game or app that you can download are usually stored in
/var/cache/apt. whenever you are low on disc space, you can issue a
command to help you relieve the disc space. Just enter sudo apt-get clean
to delete the archive. This command will not delete your installed software.
The file attributes are three sets of three different characters (rwx)
informing you which specific user may read, write or execute the file or
directory for, respectively, the user who owns the file, the group owner, and
everyone else (‘others’). Permissions for execution are required to run a file
if it is a program – such as launcher.sh which initiates the Python games in
your usr/share/python_games folder, and thus it has the x – and for
directories, so that you may cd into them. Change directories (cd) into
usr/share/python_games and then enter the command sudo chmod a-x
launcher.sh – where a stands for all (user, group and others). You can
deploy u , g , or o to switch between users, groups and others. When you try
to open the Python Games from the main menu after all these
modifications, it will not work. You can restore back to normal functioning
by entering sudo chmod a+x launcher.sh , but instead you should deploy:
sudo chmod 755 launcher.sh . You can deploy the command chown to
change the owner of a file and use chgrp to change which group the file
belongs to. If you initiate a new text file and prompt sudo chown root
myfile.txt – and you then try to edit you will observe that while you can
still read the file, you will no longer be able to write to it. You can also
make a file that you can write to and run, but you can’t read it any longer.
Personalizing the command lines
The Raspberry terminal contains the interface pi@raspberrypi ~ $. The $
signifies the dollar prompt awaiting you to enter any command. The ~ is the
notation for home specified by /home/pi. The @raspberry denotes the
username which is the computer name in this case. All these signify your
identity as a user and you can either personalize or change them whenever
you want.
- Creating a new user account
If you have family members or friends sharing your Raspberry pi with you,
you need to change the username from pi and assign a name for each
individual member. You can easily add a new user account with the
command Sudo adduser username. Let us say you want to create a user
account for your child named Rose; you can just prompt Sudo adduser
rose. You will be asked to enter a password – make sure you enter a strong
password that you can easily remember. You can have a look at /home/rose
and you will notice the home has no content since the username is new to
Raspberry. To change the password for Rose, simply prompt Sudo passwd
rose. If you are logged in to pi as the owner, you can simply prompt
passwd and you will get a window asking you to change your password.
You can switch your identity as pi owner to any other user, let say Rose,
just prompt Su – rose. This prompt will take you to /home/rose.

Command lines for managing removable disc

When you slot any removable disc inside the Raspberry pi, the Raspbian
operating system will ordinarily prompt you to open the item. But you
might need some command lines to get more out of the Raspbian-
removable disc interface. It is easy to plug any removable disc inside the
Raspberry pi, but that is not enough as you need to make the disc available
(mounting the disc) so that the Raspbian OS will be able to read and
understand the content of the files inside the disc. Enter mount to access
some of the files on the disc. The Pi SD card (partitioned as
/dev/mmcblk0p1 ) is usually separated and partitioned from the removable
disc (partitioned as /dev/sda1) . You can un-mount the SD card with a Sudo
command. Just enter the prompt sudo umount /dev/sda1 (note the umount
is without “n”)

Command line for network

If you want the pi to boot with the same IP address each time, follow the
steps below to edit the file /etc/dhcpcd.conf.
- Enter the command sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf inside the
command prompt. Go to the bottom of the script and insert the
following lines;
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.0.2/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8
interface wlan0
static ip_address=192.168.0.2/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8
Save the file by pressing CTRL+O and you can then exit nano by tapping
CTRL+X . the Raspberry Pi will now start booting up with the IP address
192.168.0.2 every time you initiate booting; we are not using the IP
192.168.0.1 as this IP is reserved specifically for the router. You can
actually use any address you deem fit, but in the above configuration, the
range must be between 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.255. Reboot with sudo
shutdown -r now . Log in and type hostname -I . You should be able to
see the IP address you set in the etho or wlano entry (192.168.0.2).
Command lines to stop an ongoing process
You do not need to turn off the Raspberry pi just to stop a process you have
already initiated. You can run some simple commands to truncate any
process you initiated. You need to identify the process first by entering the
ps command. Enter ps auxww to check – the a and x insertion give all
processes, the u checks for processes by a particular user, the w gives wider
output. The ps aux listing features many headers, including the USER who
is the owner of the process, and the PID (Process Identification number).
The process identification number begins with 1 for init. It becomes
especially very easy to stop a process when you know the process’s PID, if
that is the only way of shutting it down. For instance, to interrupt a program
with a PID of 4098, simply enter kill 4098. You also prompt killall to kill a
specific program by name. For instance, you can kill the chromium browser
by killall chromium browser.
Command line to put a program in background
You can put any program or app in the background by simply inserting an
ampersand symbol (&) at the back of a command in the shell. If you
decided to put, let say, an app called bds in the background, simply try with
bds & and you will receive an output like: [1] 12768 . The first number
indicates a job number, which was assigned by the shell, and the second
number is the Process Identification number which we have already talked
about. The bds app will now be running in the background, and you will be
able to use the job control number to control the process in the shell. Initiate
some other processes in the background if you want (by appending & ),
then bring the first – bds app – to the foreground with fg 1 . Now you
should see the bds app running again. You can as well put a running shell
program in the background by ‘suspending’ the program with CTRL+Z . fg
will usually bring back the most recently suspended, unless you indicate a
job number. Note that these job numbers apply only within the shell where
the process started. Type jobs to see background processes; jobs -l adds in
process IDs (PID) to the listing.
Accessing the Raspberry pi remotely from other PCs using
SSH
The SSH can allow you to use your Raspberry pi remotely at any time. To
start with SH, endeavor to change your login password to passwd. The SSH
server is not usually accessible on some Raspberry pi, you can enable SSH
by prompting the command sudo raspi-config, then navigate to advance
settings and choose to enable SSH. You can check the IP address assigned
to the Pi using ifconfig. This will allow you to connect to your Raspberry
remotely from another computer using your SSH. If you want to connect to
your Raspberry pi from a Mac computer or GNU/Linux computer, deploy
ssh from a terminal to allow you to connect to the Pi. Assuming a default
setup, and ifconfig revealing an IP address of 192.168.0.2, connect with ssh
[email protected] and then input your password. You can also use the
OpenSSH client on Windows 10 computers; for earlier PCs, install an SSH
client like PuTTY (magpi.cc/uLytfk). Android users will be able to
establish connections using the ConnectBot client.
 CHAPTER THREE
THE RASPBERRY PROJECTS: BUILDING WITH
THE Pi
The Raspberry pi community contains groups of like minded individuals
who are innovators, developers, engineers and internet experts who are
building great and amazing things with the Raspberry pi. This chapter will
explore some of the amazing projects that have been done with the
Raspberry pi.
The Mathematica Telescope
The Mathematica telescope is one of the numerous projects developed with
the Raspberry pi. The Raspberry pi can be used to access a wide array of
mathematical data and knowledge. A very popular astronomer from
Wolfram Research institute, named Tom Sherlock, used the Raspberry pi as
a telescope to explore the sky right from his backyard. In this project, Tom
attached the Raspberry to the eyepiece of the telescope. This is because the
Raspberry pi has a camera module that can be used to take good pictures.
The Raspberry pi, on its own, cannot take extended photographs of the
moon. So, Tom improved the pi’s image taking-ability by using some extra
language and Mathematica. To make the telescope start seeing stars, the
following procedures are involved;
- Set up the telescope by mounting it accordingly.
- Attach the telescope to the Raspberry pi. A serial-to-USB adaptor
can be used for this purpose. You can then boot up the pi.
- Once the Pi is booted up and in Mathematica, you can start issuing
commands using the Wolfram Language to control the telescope –
this will change depending on what mount you’re using.

Poopi and piter’s paludarium project

This project was used to stimulate and recreate what looks like an Amazon
rainforest. This project can be used to stimulate and recreate various time of
the day and different weather conditions. The Poopi and piter’s paludarium
is controlled essentially by the Raspberry pi and ATMega 168Ps (four of
them). The features in the paludarium with their functions include; 6×
independent sections of halogen lights, 27× independently controlled 1W
LEDs for various effects , 3× independent 3W RGB LEDs for ambient
color effects , 3× independent 3W LEDs for thunder and moon
simulation , 3× independent 10W LEDs for paludarium lighting , 2×
independent fans for wind simulation , 3× fog generators, and 2×
independent solenoids for rain control Temperature monitoring.
Digital Zoetrope
This is a pre-film animation gadget that gives the illusion of movement with
still images. The Digital Zoetrope is controlled by hand. Like the original
designs, you spin the device and look through the slats to see movement in
the still images as they rotate. This project uses 12 OLED displays with the
Raspberry Pi, and it is actually possible to update the frames in real-time, so
you could watch an entire film if you wanted. Moreover, using
technological trickery, it is possible for two people to view entirely
independent animations when looking into the Digital Zoetrope from
different angles.
Internet of Things Chessboard
This is a real physical chessboard that could play online. It is different from
online games where you can only play the game in 2D view which makes
the game a little bit unintuitive. To play, your opponent requests a new
game on the chessboard’s own website. When they make a move by
dragging a piece on the web interface, the relevant piece and square will
flash on the IoT Chessboard. Whoever is sitting in front of it will move that
piece to update the board, then will make their own move. The board
detects this, and will then send that move back to the opponent’s web UI,
where the piece is moved on the screen. The Internet of things chessboard
utilizes the Raspberry pi as its web server and deploys an Arduino MEGA
to direct the electronic part. Each of the 3D chess pieces comes with a 3mm
jack which acts as a power source for the LED located inside the chess
piece and allows you to know where the pieces are located.
Naturebytes wildlife cam kit
The Naturebytes Wildlife Cam Kit uses a Raspberry Pi together with a
Raspberry Pi Camera Module that is geared by a PIR motion sensor, to
enable you to take pictures of birds and animals lying around in their
natural habitats.
LIFEBOX
The lifebox can be used as a nightlife. In the lifebox live two pixelic
entities, the blue and yellow species. These two species compete to survive
and reproduce, feeding with the white mana that grows under their feet.
Each species has eight configurable variables that can change their
behavior. The white mana also has five parameters that determine their
behaviour and also rule the future of the two species that feeds. LifeBox, in
short, is a virtual ecosystem simulator on a 32×32 RGB led panel. It is
composed of two species that compete for the resources (mana) to get
energy, survive, reproduce, and grow. Both species and the mana (which
actually acts as a different species itself) have a user-defined
parameterization that allows the user to change their behavior and see the
consequences on the panel, acting as a god of the virtual ecosystem. The
lifebox features a Raspberry pi, a LED panel plus a driver which connects
the LED panel and the Raspberry pi. Since the lifebox contains two entities
- LED and a pi – the code is divided into two separate sections; a part that
controls the driver and the section controls the stimulation.
JOYTONE
The Joytone is an excellent musical gadget featuring a hexagonal grid that
contains 72 joysticks. The Joytone’s hexagonal grid reveals musical designs
and patterns that are usually hidden by the eccentricity of some common
audio-style interfaces, such as the white and black keys in a piano. Each
joystick plays one note at a time, and the motion of the joystick determines
the capacity (volume) and character of the note. The notes are distributed
over the hexagonal grid which shows that all forms of musical patterns are
not ambiguous.
PiScan
The PiScan is just an open-source version of Amazon Dash. With the
PiScan, it is easy to scan any product you want to buy using a Raspberry Pi
and order them directly. It is hugely exhilarating and very practical, and it is
in fact more futuristic than Amazon dash which is Amazon’s official device.
The PiScan is the ultimate solution for lazy-person shopping. What the
PiScan does is to read the barcode on any consumer product you want to
buy and then order the product for you from an online vendor. PiScan
changes scanned items into a list that you can use to order products, using
Amazon’s API. When it comes to hardware, PiScan uses a Pi Model B
together with a Wi-Fi dongle and a USB laser scanner that can scan
barcodes. The USB scanner is the only extraneous hardware incorporated in
the setup, and you can get one up from Amazon for less than £20. There is
software that instructs the Raspberry pi to listen for inputs from the USB
barcode scanner. The barcode scanner works just like a keyboard, except its
input comes in short bursts of characters. The input is a 10- to 13-digit
number matched to the Open Product Data database (product-open-
data.com). If the barcode scanner sees a match, it will enter the identity of
the product into a list. The Raspberry Pi delivers the list to you as an email,
or you can tick items to add to your Amazon shopping cart.
- Laser USB scanner: The only piece of hardware incorporated inside
the setup is the Laser USB scanner from Amazon. The Laser USB
scanner is deployed to capture barcodes from products and sends the
digital information to the Raspberry Pi (which then matches it to a
database).
- Software installation: With the scanner connected, you can then
proceed to install the software.
- Scan and shop: The product can then be scanned with the barcode.
The barcode is matched with an already available database of
products. The product will now be marked and you can then shop for
them on the online platform.
Watch iPlayer on Raspberry pi
Requirement: SD card worth 8GB size, broadband connection, television
or any other screen (monitor) and some line of codes.
Get_iPlayer is an excellent, open source utility software which enables
users to access and stay updated with what is currently streamed on the
BBC’s iPlayer web. With the Get_iPlayer, you will get to download any TV
programs of choice. You will also have the chance to choose your video
according to the device you are using to view it. Some devices cannot
access videos in resolution higher than 512x288, while most other viewing
devices can go as high as 1280x720. The BBC’s website claimed that you
can only keep the files you downloaded or streamed for just a period of 30
days. But you should not worry as there is no DRM on the videos you
watched and downloaded, and as such nobody is personalizing you for
watching.
Step 1- Update your package lists: You are going to install some software
on your pi. When you install any software which is anchored by the
Raspbian OS, you need to first navigate to the command prompt. At the
command section, prompt the command sudo apt-get update and then
execute by pressing ENTER. This basic command prompt will help you to
update your software list. For the second time, prompt the command sudo
apt-get update and then execute by pressing ENTER once all the software
have been updated to their latest configuration. The second time command
is for validation. The next step is for you to add Jon Davies’s personal
package archive to your sources.list. Go to
github.com/raspitv/get_iplayer/blob/ master/code.tx to copy the five lines of
GitHub code and then paste the codes inside a terminal window on the pi.
Step 2- installing the keyring and software: you will need to repeat the
sudo apt-get update command in the Raspberry pi terminal. It is likely
you get an error message for keyring, hence you will need to install Jon’s
Keyring. To install the Jon’s keyring, prompt the command sudo apt-get --
allow-unauthenticated -y install jonhedgerows-keyring and then hit
ENTER. You should repeat this sudo command the second time as you have
done in the previous step. You can then proceed to install the Get_iPlayer
on your pi by prompting the command sudo apt-get install get-iplayer.
Step 3- using the Get_iPlayer: Once you have successfully installed the
Get_iPlayer, you can proceed to get more information about the i_Player to
enable you to get the best out of it. To begin, enter the prompt get_iplayer –
usage in the terminal which will deliver you some list of options to choose
from. Prompt the command get_iplayer –help if you want to request for
more options. You can as well utilize the prompt get_iplayer –longhelp to
get further options. Before you start downloading any program, you should
collect the index of all the available contents. You can do this by prompting
the command get_iplayer in the terminal.
Step 4- filtering your downloads: Sometimes, there are just too many
things to download and you might get a little bit confused. Simply filter the
list by prompting the get_iplayer command in the terminal and then use
categories together with the command. You can select any category you
want from the list; drama, documentaries, Science &technology, sports etc.
You can prompt get_iplayer --drama to get a drama list.
Step 5- downloading your items: When you take a look at the category of
films displayed, each film begins with a program ID number (PID). Let us
say you want to get the film breaking bad with a PID 3467 and you intend
to download the film using the best available resolution, say 1280x720. You
will just need to prompt get_iplayer --get 3467 –modes . The file will be
downloaded after a few minutes and it will be processed into an MP4 which
can be accessed, saved and deleted.
Step 6- watching the items you have downloaded: There is a GPU-
accelerated media player which comes by default when you installed the
Raspbian operating system on your Raspberry pi 4. This media player is
called omxplayer and it can access videos in HD even in the latter
generations of Raspberry. To watch the item you have downloaded, simply
prompt the command omxplayer [filenamehere].mp4. If the file name is
long, type the first few letters of the filename and tap the TAB key so that
the file will be completed automatically. Then press ENTER.
Shooting in Slo-Mo with the Raspberry pi camera module
Requirements: pi camera module, fast internet connection and an event
to shoot.
The Raspberry pi camera module can be used to shoot videos in slow
motion configuration and then convert the video into format that is
accessible on all devices. Slow-motion video is not a new concept as
cinematographers have been shooting videos in slow motion for a long
time. When you see an actor in a movie jumping off from a three-storey
building, the slow motion is in play because the actor is exactly jumping
that fast in reality. It is just like a walk in the park to create your own slow
motion video using the pi camera module. What is involved is just some
short code listing that will enable you to shoot your video and then convert
it into a desirable format so that it can be accessible on all devices.
Step 1- Connecting the pi camera module: this is about the very first
thing you need to do. Get started by first turning off your Raspberry pi. Be
especially careful with the camera module while handling as it is actually
sensitive to static – ground yourself by touching something (such as
radiator) before you get started with the camera module. The cable of the
camera module will be connected to the socket in the Raspberry pi at a
location very near to the HDMI port. Ensure that the metallic end of the pi
camera cable faces the metal HDMI port.
Step 2- camera module configuration: for Raspbian wheezy user, prompt
the command sudo raspi-config in the pi terminal to input the
configuration menu. With the arrow key, navigate down the list that shows
up and choose ‘Enable Camera’ using the right arrow key. A new menu will
be prompted where you can then choose ‘Enable’ with the right arrow key
to turn the camera module on, and then tap RETURN. If you are using
Raspbian Jessie, navigate to Preferences and choose Raspberry Pi
Configuration from the prompted menu, then enable the camera from the
Interfaces tab. Reboot the pi if you are asked to do so or you can
alternatively enter the prompt sudo reboot in the terminal to start the
rebooting process.
Step 3- install a video converter: the default recording mode for the
Raspberry pi is the raw H.264 files. This file system doesn’t work on some
devices and it is advisable to change to another configuration. To convert
the H.264 file mode into a playable mode by installing an app called gpac .
To get started, enter these commands; sudo apt-get update followed by
sudo apt-get install gpac, and then follow the instructions displayed on the
screen.
Step 4- testing the camera: To ensure that the camera is working perfectly,
test the camera with some commands. Connect a screen to the camera and
prompt raspistill -o test.jpg in the terminal window. The picture should be
displayed on the screen for a little while and the picture should be saved
you’re your home directory if everything is working fine. If the picture is
not showing, check to confirm that you entered the correct command, or
alternatively turn off the pi and reestablish connection with the camera
cable.
Step 5- write a python script: python is one language that can be used to
create a Slo-mo video script. Open a text editor in Raspberry (you can use
the Leaf text editor which has been installed automatically with the
Raspbian OS) and then copy the code opposite while being extremely
careful to avoid copying a misspell code. You don’t have to copy the
comments in the code (lines starting with #) because the Python language
doesn't use them. The script deploys the OS Python library to carry out the
terminal commands that you have entered. Save your file as slowmotion.py
in your Home directory (/home/pi).
The python script is as it is below;
import os
import time
print (“Starting program”)
time.sleep(2)
##### Record the slow motion video #####
# ‘-w’ sets the width # ‘-h’ sets the height
# ‘-fps’ sets the frames per second (90 maximum - for slow motion)
# ‘t’ sets the time in milliseconds (30000 = 30 seconds)
# ‘-o’ sets the output filename
print (“Recording started - 30 seconds”)
os.system(“raspivid -w 640 -h 480 -fps 90 -t 30000 -o vid.h264”)
print (“Recording complete. Please wait...”)
time.sleep(2)
##### Convert the raw recorded video file to playable mp4 #####
# ‘-add’ is the name of the raw video we want to convert
# The second filename is the output mp4 file
# (we use the same name followed by ‘.mp4’)
print (“Converting video. Please wait...”)
os.system(“rm -f vid.mp4”)
os.system(“MP4Box -add vid.h264 vid.mp4”)
print (“Video conversion complete”)
time.sleep(2)
print (“Closing program”)
time.sleep(2)
Step 6- running the script: initiate the python script by opening a terminal
window. Type cd and select RETURN; this makes sure you are right in the
home folder. Enter the prompt sudo python slowmotion.py. The condition
of the script printed will be displayed as it is performing the command. The
camera module’s LED light will turn on during recording. As soon as the
video has been converted successfully, the script will stop running. The
video can be watched on the pi using the omxplayer by entering.To run the
script, simply open a terminal window, type cd and hit RETURN to ensure
you are in the Home folder, and then type sudo python slowmotion.py.
You will see the status of the script printed in your terminal window as it
carries out its commands, and the Camera Module’s LED will light up
while it’s recording. The script will end when the video has been converted.
The recorded video can be accessed on your Raspberry pi by entering the
command omxplayer vid.mp4 . You can as well copy the video into many
other devices or drives.

CHAPTER FOUR
PYTHON PROGRAMMING FOR RASPBERRY
Python is a free programming language which has become the most used
language being used among developers, hobbyists and students of
knowledge. The python programming language works on a wide variety of
platforms such as Windows (all versions of Windows), Linux based
operating system and Apple OS. The python language has straight forward
commands which are very easy to understand. These commands are called
syntax. These simple commands make it especially easy for beginners with
zero knowledge of python to grasp the basics and move to being a pro
within hours or days of learning. The python language is a high-level object
oriented language with improved readability. The language is exploited by
many companies such as Google, YouTube, NASA and a host of others in
many of their programming related activities. The python programming
language came into existence in 1991 with the help of Guido van Rossum.
Recently, the object-oriented language – python- has gone through some
series of changes moving from the latter version 2 to the new version 3. The
python v3 works based on UNICODE which can operate with both English
and non English characters, while the v2 can only work with only English
characters. Python v3 is a compressed version which makes the program
smaller and very easy to understand than the v2. In this guide, you will be
coming across the new version 3 of the python programming language.
Many operating systems support both the v2 and the v3. Raspbian, the
operating system powering your Raspberry pi 4, also supports the v2 and v3
python programming language. The Raspbian OS comes with many
graphical interfaces (which define the desktop outlook) and you can
configure any of them to start using. In this python guide, the LXDE
graphical interface which is based on Linux will be used. The Linux is the
engine of the Raspbian operating system. A popular programming
environment for the LXZDE is the IDLE. When you tap the LXDE program
menu, you have access to a lot of features and menus. One of such menus is
the programming menu (IDLE). The programming menu features the IDLE
(python v2) and IDLE 3 (python v3).
Understanding the python environment
The Raspbian Linux distribution package comes loaded with python 3 and
all the necessary tools you will need to make your programming easy. The
following items are preloaded with v3; python interpreter, interactive
python shell, a python development environment and a text editor. You can
check the Python interpreter and interactive shell versions on your system
by opening the LXTerminal in the LXDE Graphical UI. Type python3 -V
and press Enter. If you are greeted with the message command not found,
then for some reason, the Python v3 interpreter is not installed. You can also
check if a Python development environment has been installed, open the
LXDE graphical interface and look for the IDLE 3 icon on the desktop. If
you cannot find the IDLE 3 icon on your desktop, check in the LXDE menu
by clicking on the LXDE Programs Menu icon and hovering your mouse
pointer over the Programming menu option. You should see the IDLE 3
icon there.
The text editor called nano will be required for the python programming.
Check if it has been installed by opening the LXTerminal in the LXDE
graphical interface, and then type nano -V and press Enter.
If any of; python interpreter, interactive python shell, a python development
environment and a text editor is missing, you can install it with a simple
sudo command. Just open the LXTerminal and enter the prompt sudo apt-
get install python3 idle3 nano in the command prompt, and then press
ENTER. This prompt will fix any of the four tools that are missen. To
install them, make sure that the pi is connected to the internet and booted
up.
Check the Raspberry keyboard: for most users in some part of the world,
like the United States, the keyboard is not usually configured properly. If
you carry out a simple check with your keyboard by pressing the shift + @
key and you are getting a double quote symbol instead of the @ symbol,
then you need to set your keyboard so that it can work effectively for
python programming by following the steps below;
- Boot up the pi, if it has not been booted on, and navigate to the LXDE
graphical user interface.
- Tap the LXTerminal icon twice to access the LXTerminal window.
- Enter the prompt sudo raspi-config on the command prompt and press
Enter.
- In the Raspbi-config window, scroll down to configure_keyboard and then
press Enter. You need to be patient here because it may take several seconds
for the next window to open.
- A new window will be prompted asking you to select the model for the
keyboard, tap ENTER to continue with the default keyboard mode.
- Another window will be displayed telling you to select the layout
matching the keyboard for this machine, scroll up the menu and select
English, then press enter.
- On the next three screens listed, modify the selections or press Enter to
accept the defaults: Key to function as AltGr screen, Compost Key screen
and Use Control Alt Backspace screen
- In the Raspbi-config window, press Tab until you reach the <Finish>
selection and
then hit Enter.
-Because the keyboard changes will not take effect until you reboot your
system, type sudo reboot in the LXTerminal window and press Enter.
-After your Raspberry Pi reboots, test your keyboard. See if pressing the @
key now produces the symbol @ and pressing the " key produces a double
quote (").
The python development environment shell is an essential tool that can be
used to create, test and modify python script. The development environment
shell can help you to troubleshoot any incorrectly written python syntax,
and you won’t need to rerun the entire python script if there is any error.
The default python environment development shell in Raspbian is the
IDLE.

The IDLE development environment shell

The full meaning of IDLE is interactive development environment. The
IDLE features a built-in text editor and a lot of other nice features that help
users to create and test python script. The IDLE 3 will be used for the
purpose of the python programming. You can bring up IDLE 3 in the LXDE
graphical interface by clicking on the IDLE 3 icon on the desktop twice.
You can also bring up the IDLE 3 from the LXDE program menu. The
following are features you can see in IDLE that will help you get started
with python;
Menu-driven options and their matching control keys— You will be
able to access a new IDLE window by tapping on the File menu option and
then choose “New window” from the dropdown displayed. You can
alternatively press Ctrl + N to open a new window
Basic text editor— The basic text editor allows users to enter a python
script and edit it if necessary. Get started by opening a new window from
the main IDLE window to have access to the text editor. From the text
editor, you will be able to cut and paste any text using the control keys.
Code completion— This brings necessary hints that can guide you on how
to complete the syntax you initiated. It is just like a text auto-completion
Syntax checking— When you initiate a command and press Enter, the
Python interpreter checks and confirms the syntax of your statement and
intimate you of any error or problem immediately. This saves time because
you will be able to find out about any error during the writing stage, and the
error can be corrected as much as possible.
Color coding— The IDLE shell gives color to your codes syntax as you are
writing it to help you follow the logic of your Python statements.
Indentation support— Python needs the use of indentation for most of its
makeup. The
IDLE shell identifies these needed indentations and handily delivers them
to you.
Debugger features— You are debugging a program when you remove all
of the syntax or logics that are not correct. With IDLE, the Python
interpreter’s syntax checking typically finds syntax errors. You can uncover
logic problems by using the IDLE Debugger, which allows you to step
through a program without adding additional Python statements.
Help— Because everyone needs a little help, IDLE provides a nice help
facility. You can
access the help facility by selecting the Help menu option on the menu bar
of the IDLE window
and clicking IDLE Help in the dropdown menu.
Note: You can leave the IDLE shell arena by taping Ctrl + Q. You can as
well open the IDLE by pressing Ctrl + O.
Running a python script in IDLE
The python script comes in handy for you because it allows you to have a
whole file of python statements ready which you can run at convenience.
With this, you don’t need to stress yourself typing each python statement
whenever you are required to run a program. There are two ways of running
a python script; either runs a script from the python interactive shell or from
the IDLE. Let us say you want to run a file called names.py in IDLE. You
will begin by opening IDLE in the main interactive mode by pressing Ctrl
+ O or select and open the file menu. Once the opening window shows up,
scroll to the location of the file you want to run (in this case, the names.py
is stored in the directory /home/pi/py3prog. Select the script by tapping on
it and then choose open to have access to the file.
When you tap the open tab, you will be greeted with another IDLE window
which will display the python script with its location and name as
names.py-/home/pi/py3prog. You will now be able to run the python script
right from its window by pressing on the F5 key or select run from the
menu bar and then run the program.

Creating a python script in IDLE

To create your python script in IDLE, start by opening the text editor from
the IDLE interactive mode window by tapping Ctrl + N. You can
alternatively select the file menu and choose a new window. A new window
will be prompted with the inscription “untitled” on the title bar space. This
brings you to the basic IDLE text editor. In the basic IDLE text editor, type
in the Python statements to create your script. When you are all done, you
save the statements to a file. If you want to save the script to a file, simply
press Ctrl+ S or tap on the file menu and choose save. You will be
prompted with a “save as'' window where you will be able to select the
directory where you need the file to be saved. Enter the name of the file and
hit the save button. All python programs are named as filename.py.
One popular text editor which is usually available by default in the
Raspbian OS is the Nano text editor. The nano text editor is ideal for the
Raspberry pi because of its lightweight feature, and it is also easy to use
when compared with the other text editors. Nano’s biggest strength over
most other text editors is that it can be deployed in the graphic user
interface and the command line. Its biggest advantage over the text editor in
IDLE is that nano can be used in both the GUI and at the command line! To
use the nano text editor at the command line, you just type the command
nano and press Enter. To start the nano text editor in the GUI, simply tap on
the LXDE Programs Menu icon located at the far left of the LXPanel. Place
the cursor over the other menu so that you can access its submenu, and then
select nano menu. Note that the nano text editor is not able to carry out any
syntax checking while you write in Python statements. It also does not do
any color coding while you write statements. And it does not perform any
auto-indentation. nano doesn’t give you any handholding when you’re
creating and editing Python scripts. The Nano text editor will be used
within the graphic user interface through the LXTerminal. The title bar of
the nano editor program window is the line where the left side starts with
“GNU nano” and the nano editor version number. In the middle of the title
bar are either the words “New Buffer” if you are creating a new file or the
name of the file you are editing.

Understanding the Python Basics

Producing python script output
As a beginner, you need to know how to produce output from a python
script. The print function is used for this purpose. When you put a group
of python statements together to perform a defined task, they are called
functions . The print became a function with the coming of the python v3.
The function of the print is to produce items as output. These items are
called arguments . Therefore, the syntax of the print function is print
(argument). The argument of the print function can be character (such as
letters or numbers) and can also be a variable.
To use character as print function argument: characters are shown using
a set of single quotes or double quotes. For single and double quote, the
result will not contain the quote as depicted below;
>>> print ('The prince received a gold medal')
The prince received a gold medal.
>>>
 >>> print (“The prince received a gold medal”)
The prince received a gold medal.
>>>
If you decide to deploy single quotation marks to enclose characters in a
print function argument, then use the single quote all through without
mixing it with double quotes. Although python does not care whether you
mix them or not, however, it is poor formatting if you deploy a single quote
in one print argument and then use a double quote in the other ones.
Note that when you have a statement that already has a quote inside
(showing possession), endeavor to use a double quote in the print argument.
For instance;
>>> print (“The king’s daughter is married”)
The king’s daughter is married.
>>>

Output control with Escape sequences

The escape sequence contains a series of characters that enable a Python
statement to “escape” from its ordinary behavior. The new behavior might
be attributed to the inclusion of some special formatting or the protection of
some special characters or functions that you are using in syntax. Escape
sequences all start with a backslash (\) character. A typical instance of
deploying an escape sequence to include special formatting is the \n escape
sequence. The \n escape sequence takes any characters you placed after it
onto the next line of the output. This is referred to as a newline, and it
inserts a line feed formatting character. See below a typical instance of
using the \n sequence to include a linefield;
>>> print ("physics is a branch of science.\nbiology is harder than
chemistry.\nAnd farming is good.")
Physics is a branch of science.
Biology is harder than chemistry.
And farming is good.
>>>
With the Unicode escape sequence, you will be able to use all types of
characters with your output.
You will be able to show Unicode characters by deploying the \u escape
sequence. Each Unicode character is marked by a hexadecimal number. You
can navigate the Unicode website at www.unicode.org/charts to see more of
the hexadecimal numbers. There are many Unicode characters which are
anchored by the hexadecimal numbers. The pi (Π) symbol has a
hexadecimal number of 03c0. You can show the pi (Π) symbol using the
Unicode escape sequence by starting the number with a \u in the print
function argument. See an example below;
>>> print ("I know a lot about the Raspberry \u03c0!")
I know a lot about Raspberry π!
>>>
Formatting scripts for readability
Sometimes, you may need to show a longer output line by using the print
function, perhaps some line of instructions that you need to send to your
script user. The longer output lines are not really advisable as they render
the code harder to understand with poor readability. You need to break
down these long lines of outputs. You can do this in a couple of ways;
The first approach that you can use to truncate a long line of characters is to
actually deploy string concatenation. The string concatenation will bring
two or more units of text and combine them together so that they will turn
to one text string. The “combine” here is a “+” that will be used. To make
this to work perfectly, you need to escape out of the ordinary print function
by using the escape sequence. You can do this by deploying the backslash
(\) symbol. This will escape you out of the usual print function of inserting
a line feed at the end of a string of characters. Therefore, the two things you
will need to truncate the longer output line are “+” and a backslash (\). See
example below;
>>> print ("There were times when the economy was good" +\ ... "that
we used to buy goods at cheaper prices!")
 There were times when the economy was good that we used to buy
goods at cheaper prices!
>>>
It is obvious in the instruction above that the two strings have been
concatenated as a single string in the result. There is another method of
doing this which is even simpler and straightforward. In this method, you
will not include the “+” and the backlash symbol (\). You will only need to
maintain each character string in its set of quotation marks. The character
will be concatenated by the string function automatically. See the example
below;
>>> print ("There were times when the economy was good" ... "that we
used to buy goods at cheaper prices!")
There were times when the economy was good that we used to buy
goods at cheaper prices!
>>>
Notice the removal of the +/ sign in the above example.

Writing comments in scripts

The author of a python script can embed a note in the script. Notes like that
are referred to as comments. The author’s intention, most of the time, for
putting comments in scripts is to give further clarification concerning the
syntax and logic of the script. The python language doesn’t, particularly,
make use of these comments for anything and it does not affect the script
whatsoever. These comments are only useful to people who are making use
of the script to either edit or debug the script. If you want to add comments
to your script, you start the comment with a pound or hash (#) sign. The
python language will not reckon with the texts that come after the hash
sign. As the author of a script, it is in your best interest to add your name,
the reason why you wrote the script and the time and date the script was
written. Although, these types of information (You Name, the reason why
you wrote the script and the time and date the script was written) can be,
sometimes, placed at the top of your scripts or at the bottom as the case may
be. Nevertheless, inserting your name and identity as a comment is a good
way of getting credit for your work when people share them across
platforms.

Understanding the python variable

A variable can be likened to a name that secures a value for future use.
While naming python variables, you need to be aware that variable names
are case sensitive. For instance, variable names CarbonPrint and
Carbonprint are not the same. Even though they have the same spelling and
look alike, they are different when it comes to python because the print in
the first one started with a capital letter while a small letter was used in the
second one. The following rules are especially useful when creating
variable for python language;
- Do not use a python keyword as variable name: Python updates
its list of keywords very often. So, it is expedient that you update
yourself with a list of current python’s keywords. You don’t need to
commit these to memory as you can always take a look at the update
anytime you need them. To check the keywords, you will need to
deploy a function that is part of the standard library. However, this
function is not necessarily a built –in function like the print function.
This function is already available on your Raspbian OS. But you need
to call the function into python if you want to use it. The name of the
function is keyword . Check below to see how to import into python
and know the keyword.
>>> import keyword
>>> print (keyword.kwlist)
['False', 'None', 'True', 'and', 'as', 'assert', 'break', 'class', 'continue',
'def', 'del', 'elif', 'else', 'except', 'finally', 'for', 'from', 'global', 'if',
'import', 'in', 'is', 'lambda', 'nonlocal', 'not', 'or', 'pass', 'raise', 'return',
'try', 'while', 'with', 'yield']
>>>
The “import keyword” brings the keyword functions for use in the
python interpreter. Then the prompt print (keyword.kwlist) deploys
the keyword and print function to show you the list of current
 python’s keywords. You should not use these keywords as python
variable.
- Do not use a number as the first character of your variable
name : the first character in the variable name can be any letter from
“a” to “z”, any letter from “A” to “Z” and an underscore (_). After the
first character, you can deploy any number from 0 through 9. Since
you cannot use space between a variable name, you can actually use
an underscore in between the name for improved readability.
Assigning value to a variable
It is very easy to assign value to your variable in python. What you do is
write the variable name first, and then put an “equal to =” in front of the
name, after which you end it with the value of the variable. The syntax is
variable = value.
Formatting variable and string output
When you use variables, you automatically add extra formatting issues to
the prompt. For instance, the print function will add a space anytime it sees
a comma in a sentence or statement. This explains why you should not add
any extra space at the end of the text. Sometimes, you might want to use
another character aside from space to space out a string of character from a
variable in the result. In a case like this, you can use a separator in the
statement. The example below uses a Sep to put an asterisk (*) in the
statement rather than a space;
>>> tea_cup = 'tea'
>>> print ("I love my", tea_cup, "!", sep='*')
I love my*tea*!
>>>

Assigning long string values to variables

If you want to assign a long string value to your variables, you can divide
the string into many lines by using many methods. One of the methods
involves deploying string concatenation, a + symbol, to combine the strings
together and the escape character (\) to prevent a line feed from being
added. See the example below where two different lines of texts were
concatenated in the assignment of the variable crude_oil;
>>> crude_oil = "America has a large reserve of crude that can last
eternity" +\
... "and provides basic energy requirement for the whole country!"
>>> print (crude_oil)
America has a large reserve of crude that can last eternity and
provides basic energy requirement for the whole country!
>>>
Another way is to utilize parentheses to enclose the variable’s value. The
example below has totally eliminates the +\ and deploy parentheses on both
side of the whole long string so as to make it becomes a single long
character string;
>>> crude_oil = ("America has a large reserve of crude that can last
eternity"
... "and provides basic energy requirement for the whole country!")
>>> print (crude_oil)
America has a large reserve of crude that can last eternity and
provides basic energy requirement for the whole country!
>>>

Assigning numeric values to variables

It is not only a string of characters that you can assign to your variables;
you can as well assign numbers to your variables. For instance, if we assign
variable cups_consumed to the number of cups of tea consumed, we can
have strings like the example below;
>>> tea_cup = 'tea'
>>> cups_consumed = 5
>>> print ("I had", cups_consumed, "cups of",
... coffee_cup, "today!")
I had 5 cups of coffee today!
>>>
You can, at the same time, assign the output of an expression to a variable.
The equation 5+1 is completed in the example below, and then the value 6
is assigned to the variable cups_consumed.
>>> coffee_cup = 'coffee'
>>> cups_consumed = 5 + 1
>>> print ("I had", cups_consumed, "cups of",
... coffee_cup, "today!")
I had 6 cups of coffee today!
>>>

Reassigning a variable
The value you assigned to a variable is not its birth right, as the value can
be switched to be assigned to another variable. That is why it is called
variable in the first place. The variable coffee_cup can have its value
switched from coffee to butter. You can reassign a value by entering the
assignment syntax with an entirely new value at the end.
>>> coffee_cup = 'coffee'
>>> print ("My cup is full of", coffee_cup)
My cup is full of coffee
>>> coffee_cup = 'tea'
>>> print ("My cup is full of", coffee_cup)
My cup is full of tea
>>>

Python data type

Whenever you create a variable by an assignment, like variable = value,
the python language will help you to determine the data type, and then
assign the data type to the variable. When a variable is created by an
assignment such as variable = value , Python determines and assigns a data
type to the variable. A data type is the one that determines how you are
storing your variables and also provides rules that guide how you can
manipulate the data. Python utilizes the value assigned to a variable to
know the data type. When you entered the Python statement coffee_cup =
'tea', Python observed the characters in quotation marks and determined the
variable coffee_cup to be a string literal data type, or str . The type
function can be used to know the data type that python has assigned to a
variable. For instance, in the example below the variable coffee_cup has
been assigned the data type str because python saw a string of characters
between the quotation marks. While the variable cups_consumed has been
assigned integer int because python saw a whole number;
>>> coffee_cup = 'coffee'
>>> type (coffee_cup)
<class 'str'>
>>> cups_consumed = 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'int'>
>>>
If you make a small modification in the cups_consumed assignment
statement, python will automatically change the data type. For instance, if
you reassigned the number assigned to cups_consumed, let us say from 3 to
3.5, python will change the data type assigned to cups_consumed from
integer to float data type.
>>> cups_consumed = 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'int'>
>>> cups_consumed = 3.5
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'float'>
>>>

Allowing python script input

Sometimes, you may require your script user to give answers to some
questions or give you some data inside your script. Python leverages the
input function to get this done. The input function is essentially a built-in
function with the syntax; variable = input (user prompt). In the example
below, the input function returned the value assigned to the variable
cups_consumed. The user of the script was asked to give this information.
The prompt that the script developer provided to the script user is indicated
inside the input function as an argument. The script user just needs to give
the answer and hit the Enter button. This automatically enabled the input
function to assign the value 3 to the cups-consumed variable.
>>> cups_consumed = input("How many cups did you drink? ")
How many cups did you drink? 3
>>> print ("You drank", cups_consumed, "cups!")
You drank 3 cups!
>>>
The input function sees all input as strings. This is totally different from the
way python treats other variable assignments. Note that if cups-consumed =
3 was inside your script, python would assign it the integer (int) data type.
The input function in the example below is set to string (str);
>>> cups_consumed = 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'int'>
>>> cups_consumed = input("How many cups did you drink? ")
How many cups did you drink? 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'str'>
>>>
You can change variables (input from the keyboard) from strings by using
the integer function. The integer function will switch a number or value
from a string data type into an integer data type. You can as well use the
float function to switch functions from a string data type into the float data
type. The example below switch variable cups-consumed from string to an
integer data format;
>>> cups_consumed = input ("How many cups did you drink? ")
How many cups did you drink? 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'str'>
>>> cups_consumed = int(cups_consumed)
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'int'>
>>>
When you use a nested function with the input, it makes your script more
concise and straight to the point. The only disadvantage is that your script
might be a bit uneasy to read.
>>> cups_consumed = int(input("How many cups did you drink? "))
How many cups did you drink? 3
>>> type (cups_consumed)
<class 'int'>
>>>
Working with numbers and performing calculations in the
Raspberry python script
Python Math operators
You can confirm if python supports all the basic Math operators by opening
the IDLE window and performing some random calculations. Using the
IDLE command prompt, you can input any type of mathematical
calculation or equation and the window will help you to evaluate it. For
instance, the following basic calculation can be entered into the IDLE
window for experimentation;
>>> 3 + 1
4
>>> 5 - 4
1
>>> 2*8
16
>>> 18 / 9
2.0
>>>
For the division task, python converts the result automatically to float data
type even when the mathematical inputs are both integer. This is a new
thing in the python v3.2
The following mathematical operators are also supported by python in your
script;
// (floor division), ** (exponentiation), & (binary AND), | (binary OR), <<
(binary shift left), >> (binary shift right), and (logical AND), or (logical
OR), not (logical NOT) and modulus.

Order of operation
Just like in every mathematical calculation that involves BODMAS which
provides a template for simplifying addition, subtraction, multiplication and
all other functions. The python programming language also follows rules
while solving mathematical problems involving addition, multiplication and
subtraction. In the example below, python carry out the multiplication
operation first before the addition operation;
>>> 7 + 3 * 2
13
>>>
But the order of operation above can be changed with the help of
parentheses;
>>> (7 + 3) * 2
20
>>>
Using variables in calculation
One of the most fascinating features of using math in python is that it
enables you to place variables inside your equation. If you mix data type in
your equation, python will display the result in form of floating-point data
type;
>>> test1 = 7
>>> test1 * 3.0
21.0
>>>
You need to assign a value to a variable before you deploy it in your
calculation, otherwise python won’t agree. See the example below;
>>> test1 * 5
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#0>", line 1, in <module>
test1 * 5
NameError: name 'test1' is not defined
>>>
While working with python calculation, you must have observed some
strangeness in the floating point outputs. See below;
>>> 5.2 * 9
46.800000000000004
>>>
When you, ordinarily, multiplied 5.2 by 9, the result should be 46.8. But the
IDLE displays the output with some stray numbers added to it. This is due
to the way the CPU computes floating-point calculation. Because the
floating point data type changes the numbers into a special format, the
calculations are somewhat inaccurate. This problem is difficult to by-pass in
your calculation but you can deploy some tricks to reduce the extent of the
stray values and make your calculation presentable. You can deploy the
format function inside the result to modify how the result is being
displayed. The format () function enables you to separate the variable from
the output text in the string object just by using the {} placeholder symbol;
>>> print ("The result is {}".format (result))
The result is 46.800000000000004
>>>
You can then use the placeholder symbol {} to further format your result.
All that you need to do is to specify an output template inside the
placeholder {} and python will deploy it to format the number output. For
instance, you can restrict the output of the calculation above to two decimal
places by using the template {0:.2f} to produce the output:
>>> print ("The result is {0:.2f}".format (result))
The result is 46.80
>>>
The first number in the above template tells python what position in the
number it should start to display from. The second number (the .2) tells
python the number of decimal places it should include in the output. The f
in the template informs Python that the number is actually a floating-point
format.
Creating complex numbers in python
In python, you can specify complex numbers by deploying the complex
function (). To get started, indicate the real component digit as the first
parameter and then put the imaginary component as the second parameter.
For instance, if you have complex function 2 + 5j, the real part is 2 while
the imaginary part is 5. See example below;
>>> test = complex(2, 5)
>>> print (test)
(2+5j)
>>>
Python will usually display the complex number value using the j format
which makes it look presentable and easy to view.
It is possible to carry out complex number calculation within another
complex number. See below;
>>> test1 = complex (1, 2)
>>> test2 = complex (2, 3)
>>> result = test1 + test2
>>> print (result)
(3+5j)
>>> result2 = test1 * test2
>>> print (result2)
(-4+7j)
>>>

Using the NumPy Math Libraries

Although, there are many mathematical functions which are of diverse
importance in the standard math module - most scientists, researchers,
engineers and statisticians love to create and deploy their own advanced
extended math modules. A very powerful python library for advanced
mathematical computation is NumPy. The NumPy module gives templates
for multidimensional array manipulations which are of importance in many
advanced scientific and engineering calculations. The NumPy is made up of
the following;
A multidimensional array object class
Methods for array manipulation
The NumPy multidimensional array objects are, to some degree, different
from the standard Python lists or tuples because you can easily deploy them
in many mathematical calculations that need arrays. The way python takes
care of the array object differs essentially from the way it does take care of
lists and tuples.
NumPy data type: The NumPy module is made up of five main data types
that you can find applicable to store your data in arrays. They include; bool
— Booleans, int— Integers, uint— Unsigned integers, float— Floating-
point numbers and complex— Complex numbers.
It is easy to include a bit size at the end of the data type name. Bit size such
as float64, int8, or complex128 can be specified. If you fail to specify the
bit size, python will automatically assume your bit type based on the CPU
platform.
To start using the NumPy functions in your work, start by importing the
NumPy module. The NumPy module might take a little time to load all of
the libraries so you need to exercise some patience.
Creating NumPy Arrays
When you install the Raspberry pi python version 3, you automatically get
the NumPy modules installed with it. You can begin to write your advanced
array manipulations without a hitch. There are many ways you can create
arrays in NumPy. One method is to simply create the array from the
existing python list or tuple. See the example below which creates a 3 by 3
array by deploying three python list;
>>> import numpy
>>> a = numpy.array(([1, 2, 3], [0, 2, 4], [3, 2, 1]))
>>> print(a)
[[1 2 3]
[0 2 4]
[3 2 1]]
>>>
You need to specify the data type; otherwise python will assume a data type
for you. Whenever you need to change the data type of your array value,
you should specify it as a second parameter to the array () function. The
example below makes the values to be stored in the floating data type;
>>> a = numpy.array(([1,2,3], [4,5,6]), dtype="float")
>>> print(a)
[[ 1. 2. 3.]
[ 4. 5. 6.]]
>>>
You can as well generate an all zero or all one default array like the one
below;
>>> x = numpy.zeros((3,5))
>>> print(x)
[[ 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.]
[ 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.]
[ 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.]]
>>> y = numpy.ones((5,2))
>>> print(y)
[[ 1. 1.]
[ 1. 1.]
[ 1. 1.]
[ 1. 1.]
[ 1. 1.]]
>>>
Using the “if” statement
The if statement is the most basic form of structured command. In python,
the if statement has the formatThe most basic type of structured command
is the if statement. The if statement in Python has the following basic
format:
if (condition ): statement
Other programming languages use the “then” keyword in their “if”
statement, but the python programming language has replaced the “then”
keyword with a semicolon. Python examines and then solves the condition
inside the parentheses and can either execute the statement immediately
after the semicolon (if the condition returns a True logic value) or skips the
statement after the semicolon (if the condition returns a False logic value).
Let us walk through the “do it yourself” example below to familiarize you
with the “if” statement.
- Open your Python 3 IDLE interface located right on your
graphical desktop.
- Set a value for a variable :
>>> a = 40
- Test the value of the variable by using an if statement:
>>> if (a == 40): print("The value is 40")
The value is 40.
- Try another test using another condition:
>>> if (a < 100): print("The value is less than 100")
The value is less than 100
- Try another test condition that will fail :
>>> if (a > 100): print("The value is more than 100")
>>>
When you are using the “if” statement, any time you input the statement
and then hit the Enter key, the IDLE platform will pause on the following
line to confirm if you are still going to input any more statements. You can
just hit the Enter key once again to close out the statement.
In the first script, the condition checks to confirm if the variable “a” is equal
to 40. Since it is equal to 40, Python prompts the print () statement on the
line and prints the string. In the same vein, the second script confirms
whether the value stored in the “a” variable is less than 100.
Since it is actually less than 100, Python will execute the print () statement
again to display the string. But in the third case, the value stored in the “a”
variable is not greater than 100, so the
Condition sends back a False logic value, making Python to skip the print ()
statement after the semicolon.
Using the “else” statement
The “if” statement will only run your statement if the condition is true. But
if the condition sends back a false logic value, the python programming
language will take a swift swerve and move to the next statement. In order
to run the statement even when the condition returns a false logic value, you
need another tool. This is where the “else” statement comes into play. The
“else” statement will initiate another group of commands in the statement;
>>> x = 25
>>> if (x == 50):
print("The value is 50")
else:
print("The value is not 50")
The value is not 50
>>>
When you combine the else statement together with the “if” statement, you
need to be careful how you place the else statement. If you try to keep it
indented, you will receive an error message from Python:
>>> if (x == 50):
print("The value is 50")
else:
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>
The same case is applicable when you are using the “if” and else statements
in Python scripts. When you are initiating your script code file, ensure that
you line up the else statement properly in the text.
Learning about Loop in python
Using loop to perform repetitive tasks
Your computer is able to perform one task over and over again and doesn’t
get bored like a human being. This process of carrying out a task over and
over again is called repetition. Another word for repetition is iteration.
When it comes to programming language, iteration is the act of carrying
out a set of tasks repeatedly until a desired result is obtained or the task has
been done for a desired length of period. Iteration in python, essentially,
refers to loop. One time through a loop is referred to as one iteration.
When you go through a loop multiple times, you refer to it as “iterating
through the loop”.
Using the “for loop” for iteration
In Python programming language, the “for loop” construct is known as a
“count-controlled” loop. This is because the loop’s set of activities will be
carried out a set number of times. Let us say you want a set of actions to be
done six times, you can deploy a “for loop” in python to help you carry out
this task. The syntax structure of the “for loop” in Python is as follows:
for variable in data_list :
set_of_Python_statements
You should observe that there is no ending statement in the “for loop.” You
will see a “done” or “end” type of statement. In a “for loop,” the python
statements which are to be included are usually indented under the “for”
construct. The operation of a “for loop” is as follows:
 - The variable in the “for” construct is given the first value in the
data list.
- The Python statement(s) in the loop will then be executed and has
the liberty of using the variable value that was assigned to it.
- As soon as the loop’s python statement is completed, the variable
will be reassigned the next value in the data list.
- The Python statement(s) in the loop will then be executed and has
the liberty of using the variable value that was reassigned to it.
- The “for loop” will continue until you have assigned all the values
to the variable and the python statement(s) executed during each
assignment of the variable.
Validating a user input with a “for loop”
You can obtain input from people using your script (which has already been
explained in the previous concepts) and then validating the input. This is
referred to as input verification. You can write a script where you can
allow the script users three attempts to enter the correct input. In the same
vein, you can try something new by inserting a break. Kindly follow these
steps;
- Boot on your Raspberry pi by connecting it to the power source and
log into the system.
- Start the LXDE GUI by prompting the command startx and then
press Enter. Open the LXTerminal by double-clicking the
LXTerminal icon.
- The command line prompt will be displayed where you will need to
type in nano py3prog/script0701.py and then hit the Enter button.
The command puts you into the nano text editor where you will be
able to create the file py3prog/script0701.py.
- Enter the following codes into the nano editor window and press
the Enter key at the end of each line:
# script0701.py - The Secret Word Validation.
# Written by <your name here>
# Date: <today's date>
#
############ Define Variables ##########
#
# max_attempts =3 #Number of allowed input attempts.
 the_word = 'secret' #The secret word.
#
############# Get Secret Word ################
# for attempt_number in range (1, max_attempts +1):
secret_word = input("What is the secret word?")
if secret_word == the_word:
print ()
print ("Congratulations! You know the secret word!")
print ()
break # Stops the scripts execution.
else:
print ()
print ("That is not the secret word.")
print ("You have", max_attempts - attempt_number, "attempts left.")
print ()
- Write out the modified script you just typed above inside the text
editor by hitting Ctrl+O. Click Enter to write out the contents to the
script0701.py script .
- Exit the nano text editor by hitting Ctrl+X.
- Write python3 py3prog/script0701.py and hit Enter to run the
script. Answer the question correctly the first time you run the script
by entering a secret.
- The script stops once you input the correct answer due to the break
statement. The break statement prompts the loop to terminate. In
other words, the break statement lets you “breakout” of the loop.
- Type python3 py3prog/script0701.py once again and hit Enter to
run the script. This time, answer the question incorrectly, answering
anything except secret.
Using the while loop for iteration
The while loop construct, in python, is referred to as “condition-control”
loop. This is because a desired condition must be established before the
loop’s set of tasks are carried out. The iteration will stop immediately when
the condition is met. For instance, you might need a set of loop’s tasks to be
carried out until a specific condition is no longer true. In such instances,
you need a while loop. The syntax structure of the while loop in Python is
as follows:
while condition_test_statement :
set_of_Python_statements
Just like the case in the “for loop,” the while loop deploys indentation to
denote the specific python statement that is linked with it (code block).Just
like the “for loop,” the while loop uses indentation to denote the Python
statements associated with it (code block). condition_test_statement
examines a condition, and if it finds the condition to be true, it will execute
the python statement within the loop’s code block. The condition for each
iteration is checked, and the iterations stop once the condition is examined
to be false.
A loop will come in handy when you are thinking of entering data. You can
create a script to enter a club’s member list with a while loop. The script
will ask for the number of the member names you want to enter. The while
loop will request for the member’s identity, such as their surname, first
name and middle name. Follow the steps below to get started.
- Boot on your Raspberry pi by connecting it to the power source and
log into the system.
- Start the LXDE GUI by prompting the command startx and then
press Enter.
- Double click the IDLE 3 icon to open the IDLE 3 window.
- Tap ctrl + N to open the text editor window.
- Enter the code shown in the image below inside the IDLE text
editor window. Tap Enter when you need to get to the next line.
 - Test your new scripts in IDLE by tapping the F5 key and then input
the answers to the questions.
- You can save the script by tapping ctrl + S to have access to the
“save as” window. Click the py3prog folder icon twice and then enter
script0702.py inside the file name bar. Tap the save button to save.
- Tap on the Ctrl + Q to leave the IDLE environment.

Creating and using Tuple in programming

The tuple is a category of data type in Python which enables you to store
multiple data values that are constant (doesn’t change). In the programming
community, these data values are considered to be immutable . Once you
create a tuple, you can either work with the tuple as a single object or you
can reference the individual data value inside the tuple in your Python script
code. In python, you can create tuple using four methods and these include;
- Use parentheses to input an empty tuple value. See below
 >>> tuple1 = ()
>>> print(tuple1)
()
>>>
- Insert a comma immediately after a value in an assignment. See below:
>>> tuple2 = 1,
>>> print(tuple2)
(1,)
>>>
- Use commas to separate multiple data in an assignment. See below;
>>> tuple3 = 1, 2, 3, 4
>>> print(tuple3)
(1, 2, 3, 4)
>>>
- Specify an iterable value by using the tuple () built-in function in python. See below;
>>> list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> print(list1)
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> tuple4 = tuple(list1)
>>> print(tuple4)
(1, 2, 3, 4)
>>>
Creating and using lists in python
Just like tuples, lists store multiple data values which are referenced by a
single list variable. One difference between tuples and lists is that: tuples
are immutable while lists are mutable (you can change or delete any data
variable you stored in lists).
Just like it is with tuples, there are four ways of creating a list;
- Use an empty pair of square brackets to create an empty list. See
below;
>>> list1 = []
 >>> print(list1)
[]
>>>
- Insert square brackets around a list of values that are separated by commas. See below;
>>> list2 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> print(list2)
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>>
- Create a list from any other iterable object by using the list function (). See below;
>>> tuple11 = 1, 2, 3, 4
>>> list3 = list(tuple11)
>>> print(list3)
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>>
- Use a list comprehension.
The list comprehension method gives you a genuine way of creating a list
from other data. You can observe that python uses square brackets in the
data value which are different from the parentheses used by tuples. Like it is
in tuples, lists can have any type of data, including numbers and any other
data type. See below;
>>> list4 = ['John', 'Mercy', 'Tim James', 'Torres']
>>> print(list4)
['John', 'Mercy', 'Tim James', 'Torres']
>>>

CHAPTER FIVE
USING PROGRAMMING IN THE RASPBERRY
PI
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) Programming
The graphical user interface (GUI) on all operating systems enables you to
enter data and see the processed result in a jiffy. Like most other operating
systems, the Linux OS – which is the building block of your Raspberry pi –
also has its own graphical user interface. There are many graphical desktop
environments in the Linux OS, but the Raspbian OS which is used by the
Raspberry pi deploys the LXDE desktop environment to give you an
appealing graphical desktop interface. You can use the LXDE desktop
environment together with python script to invent a more appealing
window-oriented interface that can give your programming work a very
good look. You can go through some terms used in the graphical user
interface programming first;
- Frame : this is the main section in a window. It is usually made up
of objects called widgets.
- Widgets: helps display and retrieve information. The following are
the types of widgets you might come across with their functions;

Frame: provide a window section that you can utilize to

put other widgets inside the window.
Label: allows you to write texts in the window section.
Button: click a button to prompt an event in the window
interface.
Checkbutton: allows you to select or unselect an item.
Entry: provide a section to write or show a single line of
texts.
Listbox: gives you an array of values to choose from
Menu: gives the menu toolbar at the window top section
Progressbar: let you know when an action is taking place
in the background. When you are downloading something
or copying a file, the progress button will usually show to
tell you the extent of the process.
Radiobutton: enables you to choose on item from a list of
items
Scrollbar: manages the view in a frame
Separator: put a horizontal or a vertical bar inside the
window.
 Spinbox: enables you to choose a value from an array of
numbers.
Texts: an area to write multiple lines of texts.

A GUI program shows all the widgets at once inside the window. It is the
user that will get to determine which widget he wants to activate next since
the code cannot determine which widget the user is planning to use at any
point in time. The GUI program deploys a technique called event-driven
programming to process codes. In event-driven programming, Python
initiates different methods inside the program, using the series of actions
that has happened in the GUI window. The program flow doesn’t exactly
have a set flow; it only runs in response to a triggered event. For instance,
your user can input their data or information into the text widget, and
nothing will happen unless the user taps a button in the program window to
submit the text. The tapped button initiates an event, and your program
code needs to detect that event and then prompt the code method to read the
text in the text field and then start processing it.
The basis of the event-driven programming is linking widgets inside the
window to some specific events and then linking these events to the code
modules inside the program. The event handler is the one carrying out this
process.
Python GUI packages
There are many excellent GUI packages that will enable you to create GUI
widgets using your python scripts. These widgets will allow you to create
your own graphical program. The most common GUI packages include;
tkinter, PyGTK, PyQT and wxPython .
The python programming language features the tkinter package by default,
hence it is mostly used to create python’s graphical interface on your
Raspberry pi. The tkinter is also among the oldest graphical packages in
python programming.

The tkinter package

The library of the python Raspberry pi features the tkinter package by
default, so it is mostly used to show how to create graphical user interface
programs in the python script. There are three (3) essential steps you need
to be familiar with in order to create a graphical user interface application
using the tkinter package. These steps include;
1. Creating a window.
2. Adding widgets to the window.
3. Defining the event handlers for the created widgets.
- Creating a window: The first thing you need to do before you
create a graphical user interface program is to set up the main
window for your application. This main window will be called the
root window and it can be achieved by creating a Tk object. If you
want to create a Tk object, import the tkinter library first and then
place a Tk object just like it is done below;
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
The entry above will create a main window object and assigns the
main window object to the variable named root. However, the default
window you set up above will lack most of the window features such
as title, size or any other essential features. You need to set up some
of these window features by running a few defaults Tk objects. You
can run the title method () which will assign the title for the window.
This title will be displayed at the top part of the window. You as well
set up the geometry method () that will assign size to the window.
See below;
root.title('This is a test window')
root.geometry('300x100')
As soon as you are done setting the title and the size for the window,
you will need to place the window into a loop by deploying the
mainloop () method. This will make the window gadget to trigger an
event. Python will be able to intercept any event that happens in the
window and then passes these events into the program code. For
instance, if you tap the X menu at the top right section of the window,
python will record this action and will understand that you intend to
close the window. Check the tkinter window code below for
script1801.py to create a simple window.
#!/usr/bin/python3
from tkinter import *
root= Tk()
root.title('This is a test window')
root.geometry('300x100')
root.mainloop()
 You need to enter into the LXDE graphical desktop on your
Raspberry pi in order to run and execute the script1801.py code.
When you enter the LXDE graphical desktop on the Raspberry pi,
simply initiate the script right from the command line by clicking to
open the LXTerminal menu. Run the code from the command prompt
of the LXTerminal menu. See the code below;
pi@raspberrypi ~$ python3 script1801.py
- Adding Widgets to the window: Once you have successfully
created the root window, you can now start adding widgets to the
window interface. The following three (3) steps are involved when
you want to add widgets to your window;
1. Creating a frame template in the root window.
2. Defining a positioning method you want to use for placing
your widgets in the frame.
3. Placing the widgets in the frame by deploying the positioning
method you have defined.
- Creating a frame template in the root window: This is mainly the
first step involved in adding widgets to your window. This step
involved creating a template for the window widget layout. The
Frame object which has been customized with the tkinter package
will be deployed to create a frame area for you to put your widgets.
However, the frame area cannot be used right in your window code.
You need to create a child class that will define all the window
methods and attributes using the frame class. You can use any name
of your choice for the frame object child class. However, the most
commonly used name for the frame object child class is Application.
See below;
class Application(Frame):
Creating the child class is not enough as you need to create a
constructor with the __init__() method. The __init__() method
deploys the keyword self as its first parameter, and it uses the root Tk
window object which you have already created as its second
parameter. The first and the second parameter is the one that
associates the Frame object to the window. With this, you now have a
 readymade template that you can use to create your window Frame
class. See below;
class Application(Frame):
"""My window application"""
def __init__(self, master):
super(Application, self).__init__(master)
self.grid()
The method highlighted above will create the window using the bare
Tk object. If you now want to add a frame so that you can start
arranging your widgets, see the below script1802.py;
#!/usr/bin/python3
from tkinter import *
class Application(Frame):
"""Build the basic window frame template"""
def __init__(self, master):
super(Application, self).__init__(master)
self.grid()
root = Tk()
root.title('Test Application window')
root.geometry('300x100')
app = Application(root)
app.mainloop()
- Positioning your widgets: In order to have a user-intuitive
Graphical User Interface application, you need to understand and get
familiar with the right way of adding widgets in the window area.
You don’t need to cluster too many widgets together in the window
area as it makes the whole interface messy.
From the previous section, you were able to use the grid method to
arrange your widgets in the frame. Now, with the tkinter package,
you can use the three methods below to arrange your widgets inside
the window;
Using a grid system
Arranging widgets into available places
 Using positional values
The third method, which deploys the positional values of arranging
widgets in the window, will need you to specify the exact location of
each widget you are adding by using the X and Y axis within the
window. This method might be difficult for you as a beginner, though
it gives a perfect way to control where you are placing your widgets.
The packing method tries its best and it is used to pack widgets, as
much as it can, into the window inside the space available. The
packing method will allow window to put your widget in the window
beginning from the top left and then move along to the next available
space, either to the right of the previous widget or below the previous
widget. The packing method works best if you have a small window
with not so many widgets to arrange. The packing method gets messy
if you are working with a larger window and make your widget get
cluttered and in bad view. The judge between the packing method and
the positional method is the grid method. The grid method affords
rows and columns to create a grid in the window. Widgets are placed
across rows and columns. You can define a widget with the grid
method using the three parameters below;
object.grid(row = x , column = y , sticky = n )
The third parameter, which is the sticky parameter, tells the program
to align the widget inside the row and column. The sticky parameter
has nine sticky values which define the orientation and alignment of
each widget using the four cardinal points (N, S, W, and E.) , two
combinations of the cardinal points (NW, NE, SW, and SE.) and the
center alignment. Each of these sticky values places the widget at the
different location and direction in the window. For instance,
specifying the N will place the widget at the top of the cell and vice-
versa.
Now that the frame object has been defined and the appropriate
positioning method in order, you can now start placing your widgets
inside the window. Widgets can be specified directly in the class
constructor for the specific application class but it is best to use a
method called create_widgets (). Using the create_widgets, you can
now place the statement to create the widget. The constructor will
look like the one below;
def __init__(self, master):
 super(Application, self).__init__(master)
self.grid()
self.create_widgets()
The create_widgets() method features all the statements necessary to
build the widget objects that you desire in your window. The
script1803.py program below is a good example of this;

Two lines of codes are used to specify a Label widget for the window in the
create_widgets() method. The Line 13 above specifies the exact Label
object, and line 14 uses the grid() method to position the Label widget in
the window.
- Defining the event handler for the window: Another step
involved in building a Graphical User Interface application is to specify the
event that the window uses. Widgets that can generate events (such as when
the application user clicks a button) use the command parameter to define
the name of a method Python calls when it detects the event. For example,
to link a button to an event method, you write code like this:
def create_widgets(self):
self.button1 = Button(self, text="Submit", command =
self.display)
self.button1.grid(row=1, column=0, sticky = W)
def display(self):
print("The button was clicked in the window")
The create_widgets() method will be able to create a single button to
show in the window area. The Button class constructor makes the
command parameter to be self.display , which points to the display ()
method in the class. For now, the test display () method will deploy a
print () statement to show a message back in the command line,
where you initiated the program.
The script script1804.py below will create a window with the button
and the event specified;

Exploring the tkinter widget

- The Label widget: you can put texts inside the editor with this
widget. Use the text parameter to specify the text to display when you
are adding a label widget to your window. See below;
self.label1 = Label(self, text='This is a test label')
- The button widget: To let application users trigger an event that
will allow them to read data in a form. The basic format for creating a
button widget is shown below;
self.button1 = Button(self, text='Submit', command=self.calculate)
- The Checkbutton widget: To make a choice between one or more
items in a list.
 - Entry widget : To create a single-line form field for displaying text
dynamically in your window. See the format; self.entry1 = Entry(self)
- The text widget : Used to add a large amount of texts.
- Listbox widge t : The Listbox widget gives a list with many values
for your application user to select from. When you are using the
Listbox widget, you can indicate how the user chooses items in the
list with the selectmode parameter. See here;
self.listbox1 = Listbox(self, selectmode=SINGLE)
The selectmode parameter has the following options;
- SINGLE— Which allows users to select only one item at a
time.
- BROWSE— Which lets the user choose only one item but
the items are movable within the list.
- MULTIPLE— Which lets the user choose multiple items by
clicking them one after the other.
- EXTENDED— Which lets the user choose multiple items by
using the Shift and Control keys while selecting items.
Once you have created the Listbox widget, you can add items to the
list by using the insert () method as shown below;
self.listbox1.insert(END, 'Item One')
Python Web Programming
Installing a web server on your Raspberry pi using python

Running a web server on your pi

You can move your python application into the web world. But before you
do that, you need to create a web server on the Raspberry pi to host these
python applications. There are many web server applications that you can
install inside the Raspberry pi. But the most popular one is the Apache web
server. The Apache web server works well on the Raspberry pi as long as
you don’t try to host many users at the same time on the server
concurrently.
Installing the Apache web server on your pi: The Raspbian OS contains
many software in its repository, and the Apache web server is featured in a
single software package called Apache2. To install, simply use the apt –
get command. Enter the command below inside the LXTerminal;
pi@raspberypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install apache2
The Apache2 package will help you to install the Apache web server once
you enter the above command. The supporting files needed to run the server
will be installed along with the Apache web server. These supporting files
include; /var/www ( which is the folder for serving web documents),
/usr/lib/cgi-bin ( which is the folder for serving scripts), /etc/apache2 (
which serves as the folder for the web server configuration file) and
/var/log/error.log ( which is the Apache web server error log file).
Once the installation process is completed, the Apache web server will start
automatically without necessarily using any manual method to get the
server on the run. Nonetheless, you will be able to start and stop the Apache
web server anytime you by using some basic command prompt. Use the
command sudo service apache2 stop to stop the Apache web server. In the
same vein, you can use the command sudo service apache2 start to start
the server.
You can test the Apache web server as soon as you get it running. Open a
browser from the LXDE desktop on the Raspberry pi, or you can connect to
the Raspberry pi from another client on the network provided that you
know the IP address of your Raspberry pi. If you want to connect from the
pi’s desktop, you can connect to the localhost name; http://localhost/
You can find the IP address assigned to your Raspberry pi by using the
ifconfig command at the command prompt; pi@raspberrypi ~ $ ifconfig. Once you
know the IP address assigned to the Raspberry pi, you can then go ahead to
connect it from the remote client by typing the IP address as the URL. For
instance, if you know your Raspberry pi IP address is 19.0.1.50, then you
will use the URL http:// 19.0.1.50 / .
 CHAPTER SIX
Basic pi/python projects
Building your pi projects with python
Displaying HD image on the Raspberry pi using python script
HD images mean high-definition images. The dimension of an image will
ordinarily tell you whether an image is in HD or not. The dimension of an
image is usually measured in pixels and it is of width x height. If your
picture has a dimension 1280x720; what this means is that the width of the
picture is 1280 and the height is 720. Larger dimension images mean a high
resolution and these kinds of images give a better picture when viewed. An
HD image is of dimension 1280x720 pixel. You can check whether an
image is HD by using the Image viewer utility that came default with the
Raspbian OS. In the Raspbian Graphical User Interface on your Raspberry
Pi, tap on the LXDE Programs Menu icon. Locate the file manager within
the LXDE menu in the Accessories submenu. Upon opening your file
manager, you should go to any image or photo you have previously saved
on your Raspberry pi. When you see the photo or image in the file manager,
right click on the photo to open it with the image viewer. The resolution of
the image will be written clearly at the image viewer title bar together with
the name of the image you opened.
Creating the image presentation script: There are many methods from
the PyGame library that can be deployed to achieve this. You can import the
PyGame library with the script below;
import pygame #Import PyGame library
from pygame.locals import * #Load PyGame constants
pygame.init() #Initialize PyGame
Setting up the presentation screen: This is the stage where you are
required to set the color you want as the background screen. You should
consider the image you are working with while determining your
background color. Essentially, you should deploy monochrome colors like
gray, white, or black. You will be required to set the RGB color settings
before you will be able to generate the background color. White color can
be obtained by the RGB setting 255,255,255. The RGB setting for black color
is 0, 0, and 0. The example below uses gray color with an RGB setting of
125, 125, and 125;
ScreenColor = Gray = 125,125,125
You need to be able to view the HD image on any screen size. This is only
possible when you set the presentation screen in your script. With this, you
don’t need to modify your script to view your image on any screen size
even if the computer is not yours. To get this done, initialize the screen
using pygame.display.set_mode and you will be able to use the full screen
as shown below;
ScreenFlag = FULLSCREEN | NOFRAME
PrezScreen = pygame.display.set_mode((0,0),ScreenFlag)
The above script makes the PyGame display screen to be set to be able to
assume the full size of the screen the script is encountering at the particular
moment. You can also use the NOFRAME flag in addition to using the
FULL SCREEN. The NOFRAME will make any frame surrounding your
screen to disappear during image presentation. This allows the entire screen
to be available to display your HD image.
Finding your image: while finding your image, it is essential you know the
file name. If you want your script to find your image for you, specify the
location of the image and the image’s file extension by using two variables.
The example below has the variable picturedirectory set to tell you the
exact location of the stored images;
PictureDirectory = '/home/pi/pictures'
PictureFileExtension = '.jpg'
The variable PictureFileExtension in the script above is telling you about
the current file extension of the image. Once you have already specified the
location of the image and the file extension, you can then list the files in the
photo directory. You will need to import another module called the os
module to get this done. See below to import the os module;
import os #Import OS module
You can also use the os.listdir operation to list the contents of the directory
that has the photos.
Each file spotted in the directory will be noticed by the Picture variable.
Thus, you can then use a
“For loop” to process each file as it is being noticed;
for Picture in os.listdir(PictureDirectory):
If you have other files located in this same directory, grab and show only
the desired image by having the script check each file for the appropriate
file extension before you load it with the .endswith operation. You can
deploy an “if statement” to carry out this task. The “for loop” you want to
use to process each file before will now become;
for Picture in os.listdir(PictureDirectory):
if Picture.endswith(PictureFileExtension):
With the scripts above, you will be able to process all the images that end
with the appropriate file extension. The remaining part of the loop will only
load each image and then fills your screen with set screen color;
Picture=PictureDirectory + '/' + Picture
Picture=pygame.image.load(Picture).convert_alpha()
PictureLocation=Picture.get_rect() #Current location
#Display HD Images to Screen #################3
PrezScreen.fill(ScreenColor)
PrezScreen.blit(Picture,PictureLocation)
pygame.display.update()
Storing your images on a removable disc
The Raspbian operating system is loaded on to the Raspberry SD card. The
OS has occupied some spaces, and you might sometimes need to store your
images on a removable disc (like a flash drive) and rather not on the Pi SD
card. This is to relieve the SD card of insufficient memory space issues. So,
how then does the python script accesses the images you saved on the
removable disc.? The Raspbian operating system deploys what we called a
“device file” to access files (images) stored on a removable disc. It becomes
important, then, to determine the “device file” name before you start
working on the python script. Follow these steps to determine your device
file name;
- Insert the removable disc (flash drive) into an appropriate port on
the Raspberry pi. Open the drive in file manager by selecting “open in
file manager” in the window displayed after successfully inserting the
drive.
- Record the file directory on the address bar of the file manager
window, and then close the file manager window. Let us assume that
 the directory name is /media/28BE-27DC when you checked.
- Open the LXTerminal and enter the command ls directory. In the
command, replace the directory part with the file directory name
(/media/28BE-27DC) that you recorded in the previous step, and then
tap Enter. You will be able to access the pictures and any other files
stored on the removable disc.
- Use the mount command to see the device file name that will be
assigned to the removable disc when inserted into the Raspberry pi.
See the below script to mount;
1: pi@raspberrypi ~ $ mount
2: /dev/root on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,data=ordered)
3: ...
4: /dev/mmcblk0p1 on /boot type vfat
(rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,
5:
codepage=cp437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-
ro)
6: /dev/sda1 on /media/28BE-27DC type vfat
(rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,
7: ...
- The device file name is shown in line 6 and the name is /dev/sda1.
Record this name because you will need it in the python presentation
script.
- After recording the device file name, you can then safely remove
the removable device by typing “umount device file name” i.e umount /dev/sda1.
Note the spelling of umount here and not unmount.
- Enter mkdir /home/pi/pictures to create a directory for the
removable material (flash drive).
After determining the device file name for Raspbian to use to call your
removable device, you can then make some adjustments to your
presentation script. You need to, first, create a variable inside your
python script to stand in for the device file name you have identified in
the previous step. See below;
PictureDisk = '/dev/sda1'
The os module has a function referred to as .system . This .system
function enables you to send dash shell commands from your Python
script to the Raspbian operating system. You should ensure that the
 removable material has not been automatically mounted in your script.
Simply issue the umount command by using the os.system. See below;
Command = "sudo umount " + PictureDisk
os.system(Command)
However, if your removable material has not been mounted, you will
receive an error message for the prompt above and then proceed with the
presentation, nonetheless. Having an error message here doesn’t stop
anything; only that error message won’t make your script presentation
look attractive. But this error message can be concealed by deploying a
small dash command trick. See below;
Command = "sudo umount " + PictureDisk + " 2>/dev/null"
os.system(Command)
Now you can mount your removable material by using the Python script.
Simply use the os.system function once again to issue a mount
command to the operating system. See below;
Command = "sudo mount -t vfat " + PictureDisk + " " +
PictureDirectory
os.system(Command)
Scaling your image: You don’t want an oversized image that is much
larger than your screen, so you need to scale your image. To do this, you
need to first determine the size of the presentation screen by using the
.get_size command. You can then scale down any image that is oversized
by setting up a variable called Scale. See below to set up the Scale variable;
PrezScreenSize = PrezScreen.get_size()
Scale=PrezScreenSize
Prompt the “if statement” below to determine the size of the current picture;
# If Picture is bigger than screen, scale it down.
if Picture.get_size() > PrezScreenSize:
Picture = pygame.transform.scale(Picture,Scale)
Note that the image will be scaled down by using pygame.transform.scale
above if it is bigger than the current presentation screen.
Framing the image: You need to frame the image to make it looks more
appealing and attractive. A small adjustment to the Scale variable above
will get the job done. See below;
Scale=PrezScreenSize[0]-20,PrezScreenSize[1]-20
Centering the image: This is necessary to place the image at the center of
the presentation screen. The PyGame library, by default, displays your
images at the upper left corner of the presentation screen. Use the variable
called CenterScreen ton properly center your picture;
PrezScreenRect = PrezScreen.get_rect()
CenterScreen = PrezScreenRect.center
Your HD image will be looking more presentable having gone through the
series of python scripting above.
The Sense HAT: Getting Raspberry to sense the world
The GPIO on the Raspberry pi will enable you to connect many external devices to the Raspberry pi.
The Sense HAT allows your small computer (Raspberry) to communicate with the external
environment.
You will learn how to control the LED matrix in the Sense HAT and how to collect sensor data.

In this project, you will need the following hardware and software;
- Raspberry pi and a Sense HAT (which are the hardware)
- Python v3 and Sense HAT for python v3 (these are the software and
are already installed with the Raspbian operating system).
But if the Sense HAT package is not in your Raspberry pi, for one reason or
another, enter the command sudo apt-get install sense-ha t in the
LXTerminal of the Raspberry to get it.
The Sense HAT is literally like an add-on board made specially for the
Raspberry pi. This board (Sense HAT) will enable users to measure
temperature, pressure, humidity and some other measurements. It can bring
out information by using the built-in LED matrix.

The Sense HAT can display text, color and images

 - Prompt the code below to show a message on the LED matrix of the
Sense HAT;

- You can display color on the Sense HAT with a python script.
Follow the steps;

Enter the script below in a python file.

The LED matrix will show white light when you prompt
the code above. This is because the maximum value of the
red, green and blue colors has been used. Hence the color
will be white.
Try something by changing the value of any of the colors
above and note what you see.

- The LED matrix of the Sense HAT can be adjusted individually to

show images

The set_pixels command can be used to show images on

the LED matrix.
Sensing the environment with the Sense HAT
There are some sets of sensors incorporated in the Sense HAT that enables
it to make sense of the surroundings.
Reading pressure with the Sense HAT
Enter the code below in a python file

Reading temperature with the Sense HAT

There are two sensors that are capable of reading the temperature. These
include; the pressure sensor and the humidity sensor.
The get_temperature_from_humidity is capable of measuring the
temperature from the humidity sensor, while the
get_temperature_from_pressure can measure the temperature from the
pressure sensor.
Open the python file and run the code the below;
from sense_hat import SenseHat
sense = SenseHat()
sense.clear()
temp = sense.get_temperature()
print(temp)
Reading humidity with the Sense HAT
Hit the code below in a python file;
from sense_hat import SenseHat
sense = SenseHat()
sense.clear()
humidity = sense.get_humidity()
print(humidity)
Sense HAT detecting movement
The Sense HAT has an Inertia Measurement Unit chip featuring some
sensors that are capable of detecting motion. The sensors include;
- A gyroscope – which can detect which way up the board is going
- Accelerometer – which detects motion.
- Magnetometer- for magnetic field detection.
These movement sensors are important, particularly, in space navigation to
know the way you are travelling in space. The IMU sensor can track
movement in space.
 ABOUT AUTHOR

Ted Humphrey is a tech expert and a programmer who understands python

programming language and their application to 21st century problems. Ted
has over 12 years of experience writing about latest gadgets and technical
appliances. Ted is also a seasoned website developer with 7+ years of
experience creating WordPress websites and experienced in using other
content management systems, such as Drupal, aside WordPress to create
websites. He values making an impact and has a blog where he teaches
people the nitty-gritty of Programming Python, developing blogs using
WordPress and other content management systems.
Ted holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer science and Engineering from
the University of Michigan, USA. He loves pets and he is happily married
with two beautiful daughters.