Rob Miles

In this excerpt, we'll create the ultimate flashlight. With find-in-the-dark flashing behavior and a power-audit mode, this single-button-controlled device will become the ultimate in personal illumination for the twenty-first century. Figure 1 shows how the flashlight will be constructed. The .NET Micro Framework device will have an input from a push-button switch and will provide an output to a lamp. It will also have a connection to an external device so that it can transfer usage information to the external device in response to a trigger message. To make the flashlight work, the program inside it must be able to perform a number of tasks: It will need to provide a signal to turn on the lamp. It will need to read the state of the input button. For some of the later... (more)