Information and Communication Technology | Applications of Programming in Real Life

Applications of Programming in Real Life

Hello everyone! Ever wondered how a simple program can actually do something in the real world, like turn on a light, react to movement, or even understand your voice? That's exactly what we're going to explore in this chapter. We're moving beyond the screen and learning how code can interact with physical devices. It's where programming gets really exciting and hands-on!

Don't worry if this sounds complicated. We'll break it all down with simple examples and analogies. Let's get started!

Making Code Talk to the Real World

To get our programs to interact with physical objects, we don't have to start from scratch. Programmers are smart and a bit lazy (in a good way!), so they create toolkits to make things easier. These toolkits are called modules or libraries.

What are Modules and Libraries?

Imagine you're building a robot with Lego. Instead of making every single wheel and gear from tiny plastic bits yourself, you just grab a pre-made "Wheel Kit" or "Motor Kit".

Modules and Libraries are exactly like that for programming. They are collections of pre-written code that handle complex tasks. We can simply import them into our program to get access to all their special tools (functions).

• Analogy: A library is like a toolbox. You don't need to know how to build a hammer; you just need to know how to use it to hit a nail.

Capturing Data from Sensors

A sensor is a device that detects and measures something from the physical environment. Our programs can use libraries to read the data from these sensors.

Example 1: The Light Sensor

This sensor measures the amount of light (brightness).

• Real-life Use: Your smartphone uses a light sensor to automatically adjust its screen brightness. It's brighter outside, so the screen gets brighter. It's dark in your room, so the screen dims.
• In Programming: We can use a function from a library, something like get_light_level(), which gives us a number. A low number means dark, and a high number means bright.

Example 2: The Accelerometer

This sensor measures acceleration, which includes movement, tilting, and shaking.

• Real-life Use: This is the magic behind your phone's screen rotating when you turn it sideways! Fitness trackers also use it to count your steps.
• In Programming: A library for an accelerometer might give us functions like get_tilt_angle() or let us check if the device was_shaken.

Controlling Physical Devices

Programming isn't just about taking information in; it's also about sending commands out to make things happen!

Example: The Motor

A motor is a device that creates movement or vibration.

• Real-life Use: The vibration motor in your game controller or phone, or the wheels on a small robot.
• In Programming: We use a library to control it. We can call functions like motor.start(speed) to make it run, or motor.stop() to make it stop.

Key Takeaway

Modules and Libraries are our best friends when working with hardware. They hide all the complicated electronic details and give us simple commands to read from sensors and control devices like motors.

Waiting for Things to Happen: Event-Driven Programming

Think about a simple computer game. The game doesn't just run from start to finish on its own. It waits for YOU to do something, like press a key or click the mouse. This style of programming is called "event-driven".

What are Events and Event Handlers?

An event-driven program is designed to respond to "events".

• A Event is an action or occurrence that the program can detect. For example: a button is pressed, or the room suddenly gets dark.
• An Event Handler is a specific piece of code that runs automatically when its corresponding event happens. It "handles" the event.

Memory Aid: Think of it like this...

Event = The Trigger (e.g., the school bell rings)
Event Handler = The Action (e.g., students go to the next class)

Types of Events

In physical programming, events usually come from two main sources:

1. User Actions

These are events caused directly by a person.

• The Event: Pressing a button on the device.
• The Event Handler: The code that runs could be anything! Maybe it turns on an LED light, plays a sound, or starts a timer.

Example: You press a button on a coffee machine (the event), and it starts making coffee (the event handler runs).

2. Sensor Values

These events are triggered by changes in the environment, detected by sensors.

• The Event: The reading from a light sensor drops below a certain value (meaning it just got dark).
• The Event Handler: The code could automatically turn on a light. This is how automatic night lights work!

Example: A motion sensor in a shop detects you walking in (the event), and a bell chimes (the event handler runs).

Don't make this mistake!

A common mistake is thinking an event-driven program runs in a straight line from top to bottom and then stops. It doesn't! After setting up, it enters a "listening" loop, constantly waiting for an event to happen. It's always ready to react.

Key Takeaway

Event-Driven Programming allows our programs to be interactive and responsive. Instead of just following a fixed script, they wait for triggers (events) from the user or the environment and then run specific code (handlers) in response.

Putting It All Together: Simple Real-Life Programs

Now, let's see how we can combine libraries and event-driven programming to build (conceptually) some cool and useful gadgets.

Example 1: A Simple Speech-to-Text Display

• The Goal: When you speak a word into a microphone, that word appears on a small screen.
• The Tools: A device with a microphone, a screen, and a speech recognition module.
• How it Works:
  1. The program uses the speech recognition library to listen through the microphone.
  2. The Event is the library successfully recognising a spoken word.
  3. The Event Handler takes the text of that word and sends it to the screen to be displayed.

Example 2: A Motion-Controlled Robot

• The Goal: Control the movement of a simple two-wheeled robot by tilting the device it's connected to.
• The Tools: A device with an accelerometer and a connection to control two motors.
• How it Works:
  1. The program is in a constant loop, reading the tilt data from the accelerometer library.
  2. If you tilt the device forward, the program reads a change in the accelerometer's values. We can treat this change as an Event.
  3. The Event Handler uses the tilt data to calculate a speed and tells the motor library to drive both motors forward. Tilting left could make the left motor slow down and the right one speed up, causing a turn.

Did you know?

This is the same core principle used in many modern toys, like remote-controlled cars or drones that you can steer just by tilting your smartphone!

Example 3: A "Magic 8-Ball" Shaker

• The Goal: When you shake the device, it shows a random answer on its screen (like "Yes", "No", "Maybe").
• The Tools: A device with an accelerometer and a screen.
• How it Works:
  1. The program waits. It doesn't do anything until an event occurs.
  2. The accelerometer library can detect a "shake" gesture. This is our Event.
  3. The Event Handler for the "shake event" runs. Its job is to pick a random answer from a list and display it on the screen.

Final Takeaway

By using libraries to easily talk to hardware and event-driven programming to react to the world, we can write simple code that creates powerful, interactive physical devices. This is the foundation of everything from smart home devices to robotics!