CCC - Data Lab

Creating your first program

Click here for the starter program containing all of the extensions we will use during the workshop.

Go to the MakeCode editor, and click New Project.

Drag and drop code blocks (click into the Basic menu), to recreate this code:

You will see it running on the emulator on the left of your screen.

• What happens if you put the show block inside forever instead of on start?
• What other show blocks can you find in the Basic menu?

Follow the instructions to pair your micro:bit, then click Download to send your code to your physical micro:bit.

Using the OLED screen

These screens have four pins, which are connected to the micro:bit using and edge connector.

• GND --> GND
• VCC --> 3V
• SCL --> Pin 19
• SDA --> Pin 20

If you are our workshop, just push your micro:bit into the edge connector - we have connected the pins up for you!

Graphing some data

The OLED screen has a width of 128 pixels.

This means that we can put 128 points of data onto our graph.

To measure the sound level in the room 128 times, try this code:

• on button B pressed - only start collecting data when you press the B button - this block is in the Input menu.
• repeat 128 times - this block is in the Loops menu.
• plot sound level onto the display - this a combination of two blocks, in the 128x64 Display menu and the Input menu.
• pause 100 ms - if you do not pause, the micro:bit will plot all 128 data points really really quickly, and might make any music you are playing not work properly - this block is in the Basic menu.

Test it out - do you get a graph on your OLED screen?

Using the datalogger extension

You can use MakeCode's Datalogger extension to save the information to the micro:bit, as well as showing it on the OLED screen.

It can be tricky to get your data, so click here for step-by-step instructions, and follow them carefully.