Some New Vocabulary

This tutorial uses some words from programming and electronics that might be unfamiliar to you. Here are a definitions for a few of them, but feel free to google any others that don't make sense to you.

• Pin: The holes in the Arduino that you connected the Shield to are called pins. Every pin can be connected to either an input or an output device. Inputs are things like buttons or temperature sensors that take in information, while outputs are things like lightbulbs or vibrators that follow instructions.

• Loop: A loop is a structure used in programming that contains a set of instructions that will be run over and over. They can run forever, or you can make them stop after certain conditions are met, like after 10 times or when a button is pushed.

• Function: In programming, a function is a set of instructions with a name. They sometimes take parameters, which are information that the function needs to make decisions. One function we will be using today is named pinMode, which tells the Arduino whether a certain pin is an output or an input. The 2 parameters it needs are what pin we want it to know about, and whether it is an output or an input.