BBC Micro:bit

What is it?

The BBC Micro:bit is a tiny, codeable computer developed by BBC and a plethora of other partner organisations (29 partners!) and made available for free to every child in year 7 (or equivalent) across the UK.

The device supports motion detection and bluetooth technology out of the box and includes a built in compass.

In 2016 the Micro:bit Foundation was formed and ownership transferred from the BBC.

The device supports motion detection and bluetooth technology out of the box and includes a built in compass.

You can connect it directly to your computer to write, compile and upload code via a USB cable.

It can also be powered by 2 x AAA 1.5 V batteries (with additional battery pack add-on) for when running code when not attached to your computer.

What it does

It comes with 4 different coding environments to help teach people to code.

It originally came with 4 different coding environments to help teach people to code.

Javascript - Code King drag and drop programming environment
Blog Editor - Drag and Drop editor developed by Microsoft
Touch develop - A text-based programming language developed for mobile devices
MicroPython - A text-based editor with autocomplete snippets based on a customised version of the Python 3 programming language.

In 2017, this was simplified to 2 main editors (though the legacy editors are still available).