Hello, Serial Monitor

Part of the First Circuits section of Coddy's Arduino journey. Lesson 7 of 22.

The board can send text to your computer through its USB cable. The Serial monitor, under the board, shows what it sends.

Start the connection once, in setup():

Serial.begin(9600);

9600 is the speed in bits a second, called the baud rate. On a real board, the Serial monitor must be set to the same speed, or the text comes out scrambled. 9600 is the usual choice.

Then send a line of text:

Serial.println("Hi there");

Text goes between double quotes ". A piece of text in quotes is called a string. println means "print line": it sends the text, then moves to a new line.

Challenge

Easy

Greet the Serial monitor once:

in setup(), start Serial at 9600
then print Hello, board!
leave loop() empty

Press Run and watch the Serial monitor, then Check.

Try it yourself

void setup() {
  // start Serial, then print the greeting
}

void loop() {
}

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in First Circuits

1Hello, Board

Blink an LED Setup and Loop Change the Blink Speed An LED of Your Own Two LEDs Taking Turns Comments in Your Sketch

4Decisions

Decisions with if Choosing with if and else Comparing Values Combining Conditions Read a Button

2Talking to Your Computer

Hello, Serial MonitorPrint Versus Println Printing Numbers Your First Variable Counting Up When an Int Runs Out

3Math on the Board

Named Constants Arithmetic Operators Integer Division Decimals with float A Blink That Speeds Up

Practice on your own: Arduino playground