---
title: How to learn Arduino by playing with fire
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2018/program/proposals/444
beginning: '2018-11-10T13:30:00.000-08:00'
end: '2018-11-10T14:20:00.000-08:00'
presenters:
- name: zebular13
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/283
  gravatar_id: 4b76d4477b88838c792b514445855765
---

An intro to computer science for pyromaniacs.

My goal was to create a propane fire poofer to impress my friends. I ended up building a control system with buttons, solenoids, and LEDs, and levelling up my arduino skills along the way.

I'll take you on my journey as I go from simple Arduino sketch to fully optimized control system. I’ll share what I learned about helpful libraries for debouncing buttons, programming LEDs and doing data management, when to use state machines, interrupts, structs, and classes, how to manage multiple files, coding tricks for saving memory, and how I finally mastered pointers - all in the service of making cooler flame effects.
